Subdued
by yully95
Summary: This is the first chapter of the sequal to Awakened.  Jase is now roaming the world alone, or so he thinks. He is unaware that Lana is still 'live' adn well as a vampire, and she is bent on revenge. What will happne iwht his newfound love for her?
1. Chapter 1

Subdued

_Chapter 1_

Lana

I jerked myself off of the ground and gazed around the darkened forest. Everything was the same, couldn't have happened long ago.

Being bitten by a vampire really ruins your day. It hurts like hell and leaves you with a hunger that seems unending.

As I stood up and again checked my surroundings, I found my self catching the scent of blood. I looked to the ground, where a scarlet puddle was staining the grass. My blood, I was surprised he didn't lick it up, the freak.

Jase, his name no longer brought feeling of love and desire. No, it now left me with feelings of disgust, hate and rage. I wanted to bring him the same pain he gave me.

I wanted him dead. I wanted to rip his head off. He had killed me, taken away my life, my humanity, without so much as a second thought.

The thought of my human existence brought up memories of things I would never again be permitted to do. I could already feel my body changing, adapting to my new nature.

I could feel my strength, my muscles flexing as I moved and tried them out. I punched a tree. My fist tore through the bark. My skin already was beginning to look flawless. I bet if I had a mirror, my eyes would be an unnatural red. I was a vampire.

I closed my eyes, vampire, something I had once thought was cool, fascinating. But now that I was one, I felt nothing. An emptiness filled me, I had to start over, never again could I lead a normal life. All because of Jase.

He won't get away with this, I thought. I will find him, and I will put him through the same hell he had caused me.

But, Jase was a wanderer, he may not even be in the city anymore. I would have to track him. I don't know where he's off to, or, more importantly, how to even kill him.

Luckily, I think I know just the person who will.

I began running out of the forest, my legs pumping, I was sprinting at impossible speeds. I was soon out, the city, my home, was soon looming ahead. I glanced at it sadly. I would never see any friends or family I'd ever known there again. That only fueled my anger towards Jase. I gave my poor town one last longing look then bolted away into the uncertain darkness.

Jase

I was now far away from the town. It was behind me and I shouldn't look back, that was what I had always done. But I couldn't get it out of my head, couldn't get _her _out of my head.

I had briefly thought that maybe I could love her. Maybe she was a girl I could spend my existance with. But the scent of her blood seduced me, lured me with its luscious smell.

_Lana, _I thought. She was as easy to manipulate as any other human. She trusted me because I was beautiful, because I seemed so normal, and most importantly because she thought I loved her, because she thought I was the good guy.

Now that Lana was dead, I felt a strange sadness. I'd tricked hundreds of people and killed them before. But Lana had been the only one I'd fallen in love with.

It was probably sick and twisted that it took her death to make me realize it. I thought of the cruel things I'd said to her before she'd died. How I'd broken her heart.

I stopped on the roof top I was currently running on. I walked over to the ledge and gazed down at a new city and a thousand new possible victims.

I looked down the other edge of the rooftop. It was an alley, I thought about trying to commit suicide by jumping off, even though I knew it wouldn't work. I put my head in my arms.

I really wished I had never even went to that town and met Lana. I stood back up and jumped of my perch on the ledge. I landed directly in front of a man with a bag of groceries.

"Jesus!" He yelled as I appeared in front of him. He g=looked up at the roof then back at me. "Are you crazy? You could have been killed! Or worse you could have landed on me and killed_ me_!" He yelled indignant of my carelessness regarding him. I just hissed in response and opened my mouth wide enough for him to see my fangs. He dropped his bag and took a step back. "What…What are you?" He asked fearfully, no longer mad at me. I held up a hand. "

"I'm not in the mood, let's just get this over with." I said as I slammed him into the brick wall of the building. He whined and slumped to the ground. I pulled him into the alley and disposed of him quickly.

After feeding, I closed my eyes and lifted my face to the sky. I really hate my life, I thought miserably.


	2. Subdued Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

Lana

I stopped my car in front of a familiar house outside of my own home town. I turned off the ignition and jogged, or rather sprinted with my new speed, up to the front door.

John, opened the door after I rang the doorbell. A flicker of recognition flashed in his eyes. "Lana?" He asked, I nodded, "Hello John."

He stepped aside to allow me in. "You look…well." He added, trying to make small talk.

"I suppose you could say that." I mumbled, anger flaring inside me again. I walked over to the bookshelf I had examined the first tie I came here. Jase had dragged me here to talk to John about his inability to kill me. John thought it was because I reminded him of his mate before he turned, how wrong he was.

"How are you and Jase?" He asked, obviously sensing I had come here for another reason than to browse his book collections.

I turned to face him, "He killed me." I said coldly. John didn't look surprised, he only nodded sadly.

"He didn't love me, obviously," I continued bitterly, "I got cut and he chased me, using my fear and sadness as a part in his game." I spit out angrily. "he crushed my heart and then teased me, using it against me, he tortured me. Then he just bit me and he killed me!" I screamed. All of the anger I had yet to throw at Jase, bubbling up like acid.

John stood there as I screamed and told him my story. After I was done, I felt tears dripping down my cheeks. I hated to admit that I had loved Jase, and that I was crying for him.

John put a sympathetic hand on my shoulder. "I honestly thought you would be a good mate for him, Lana. But it turns out Jason was just to unstable about his blood lust." John said.

I brushed away my tears quickly, "You don't sound surprised." I say to him. He taked him hand off my shoulder, now placing it in his pocket. "No, I'm not. Although I did think he loved you, I did suspect he would turn you.'

I looked at John, "But you though he would transform me and stay." I stated, I knew it was true. He nodded, "Many vampires do it with their human lovers."

"John," I say preparing to finally confess why I came, "I need to fine Jase, but he left and I don't know where he went." I said staring at John.

"You want to kill him." He didn't ask, my burst of anger earlier gave it away. I hesitated then nodded. John sighed, " I don't approve of this, Lana." He chastised as if I were a child who had broken some rule.

"But, I will tell you how to find him." I brightened, I hadn't expected John to tell me. "Only, because I believe you deserve some closure after what he did to you." He added, still sounding like a father.

"How do I find him?" I asked, choosing not to aknowledge his comment, "You were turned by Jason. You have a special connection to him. I'm surprised you haven't tapped into it yet. Anyway, all you have to do is follow your insticts, Jason most likely doesn't know you are alive, correct?" He asked, I nodded, "Well, then just draw back memories on him and you will find him."

"And," I hesitated to ask John this, " is there a way to kill him?" I asked.

For the first time, John did look surprised. "Lana, are you sure…"

"Yes." I interrupted.

John looked to the ceiling, debating on telling g Lana or not. He sighed and turned to her. He said nothing for a moment, only stared at me. I was growing impatient, but I understood his delay.

"Well," He said finally, "There are a few ways to kill a vampire, sunlight as you know, decapitation, burning them alive," He said, listing a few. He looked away again, as if he was ashamed of telling me this.

I nodded and put my hand on his shoulder. He didn't react. "It's okay John." I said. He turned to face me, his disappointment apparent.

"Be careful Lana, you may want to contemplate me on this decision. It's a huge choice. Do you know what you're doing?"

I smiled, not wanting to answer the question,"Thank you, John." I started towards the door.

He nodded, knowing, asi did, that I didn't answer his question. John followed me as I exited, and as I left he called, "Be careful, Lana."

I stepped into my car and sat there for a moment. I did as John instructed and thought about my brief life with Jase. I hated to remember these thoughts, but I had to find Jase.

Suddenly, what seemed like a memory, but obviously wasn't, appeared in my head. It was a large city. I knew exactly where it was. I smiled and turned on the ignition, my car came to life.

_Well, if I'm going to see Jase_, I thought, I better get ready for the date. I pressed down on the gas and sped away, I was going to feed first before I met him.

Cat

Catalina Frost walked the streets of Dreston sadly. Her eyes were red from crying.

A few days ago Brittney, one of her closest friends, was murdered by someone in the woods, just outside of town.

Soon after another murder took place, most likely by the same criminal, the police had said on the news, and Lana, her best friend, was kidnapped. She and Lana's father had helped organize the search parties, but had no luck so far.

Her world was falling apart, there was murderer somewhere in her home town, her friend was dead, and another could be in the clutches of that murderer.

Cat was now wandering around town, a cup of coffee in her hand. She wasn't searching tonight; she just needed to be away for a few hours.

As she approached, The Jordon's Book's she stopped to look at the yellow 'do not cross' police tape, naming this a crime scene. She could see blood spattered on the walls. She looked away, disgusted.

Yet another crime was committed here. A friend from school, Brett, was murdered here. The sight was gruesome, blood painting the walls.

The police arrived at the scene when I local came into to get a book and saw Brett. But everyone was way too late. Brett was killed by a monster; it was hard to believe all this was happening in their small town.

She turned from the store and continued walking down the street. She pulled her jacket closer, and took another sip of her coffee.

A few moments later, she bumped into someone. "Oh! I'm sorry," She mumbled, "I wasn't paying…" She stopped mid-sentenced when she looked at the person she hit.

The girl was beautiful, yet she seemed somewhat familiar. She was prefect as far as Cat was concerned. She had wavy burgundy hair, flawless skin, with golden freckles dashed across her cheeks and nose. Suddenly, recognition slammed into Cat like a ton of bricks.

"Lana? Is that you?" She asked.

Lana's eyes opened wider as she gazed at Cat. Not realized who this girl was at first.

Cat beamed and hugged Lana. Lana took a deep breath as Cat held her; the scent of Cat's blood filled her nostrils "Oh Lana! You can't imagine how happy I am to see you! Wait 'till everyone knows you're okay!" She said hugging her again. "You can't imagine how much everyone has missed you! Where were you? Are you okay? We have to get you somewhere safe." Cat said, talking a mile a minute. She put her arms around Lana and started walking with her.

Lana quickly jerked away, covering her nose. Something about her seemed different to Cat. Lana's dark hair was wavy and perfect, her skin seemed paler and her eyes were a strange dark red. It didn't make sense for someone who may have just escaped from a psychopath.

"Lana? Are you okay?" Cat asked. Lana coughed and glared at her. "Lana? It's okay, it's me Cat, remember?" She asked, now uneasy at the site of her friend. She held up her wrist and pointed to the bracelet on it, "Remember? We have friendship bracelets." Cat pursed eager to remind Lana of their friendship.

Lana hissed. That was more than a little odd, Cat thought.

Then, without warning Lana pounced on cat. Cat screamed. Lana pressed her hand against her mouth. "Shut up!" She commanded, and threw her on the ground. Cat cried in pain. "Lana! What are you doing?" She screamed when her voice returned.

Lana pressed Cat's back harder against the brick buildings wall, Cat gasped for breath as Lana applied more pressure. "Lana….What are you doing?" Cat begged her oxygen depleting.

Lana glared at her and gave her a hellish smile, "Doing what's in my nature."

Cat's eyes widened as Lana opened her mouth, her fangs glistening with saliva.

Cat released a blood chilling scream and tried to pull away from Lana. She pinched and kicked her friend, but Lana ignored her petty threats and held her pinned to the wall.

"Lana, what happened to you?" Cat finally asked, defeat in her voice. She knew what was going too happed.

"Well, Cat; I'm what you'd call a vampire. But don't worry about me, I just need some food to be okay, you on the other hand will need a lot of blood transfusions and some stitches." Then Lana shrugged, "Who am I kidding, you probably won't survive. See ya." She said. Cat began to cry, but it only lasted a moment. Lana's bite to the throat was quick and effective, instantly crushing Cat's windpipe and killing her.

After drinking another unsatisfying meal, Lana dropped Cat to the ground, right in front of the building; she had no desire to hide Cat like the others.

Then she stood over her lifeless body, and put her own friendship bracelet on Cat's other wrist.

Lana

I sat on the ledge of a building a few blocks away from where Cat lay dead, crying. How could I have killed my best friend?

Cat and I had always been close, and I had just sucked her blood and left her. I was just like Jase.

The realization hit me hard. But it still only fueled my hatred for Jase, I blamed him for Cat's death too. If he hadn't killed me, I wouldn't have killed Cat.

I put my head to the sky and screamed in agony. I killed Cat! My best friend, how could I have done that?

It seems that whenever I feed instinct takes over and I become a different person.

I ground the tears out of my eyes and stood up. I still had to meet Jase and get my revenge. That's all I have to focus on now. I have nothing left. It was his fault all of this happened and he's going to pay.

I jumped off the ledge and landed in an alley off the side of the building. I peeked both ways before heading up the street to my car.

I jumped in and sped away. I needed to get to Jase and get my pitiful revenge; I have nothing left to do with my life right now.

Jase had ruined my life, and I was defiantly going to return the favor.

Dave

Dave anxiously dialed the number again, still hoping for Cat to answer. This was the fifth time he had called. She has always been good about her curfew, and now with a murderer on the lose Dave had told her to be earlier than usual. She was half an hour late, it wasn't like her.

"Cat, hi it's Dad, again, I'm worried, please come home, I'm ready to call the police." He warned then hung up once more. He sighed, and glanced at the clock. If Cat didn't call back within the next ten minutes he was going to call the police.

The ten minutes came and went. But before he could dial the number there was a knock on his door, he ran to answer it, expecting Cat.

It was Carl Williams, the local police chief. Dave's heart dropped, he could see a patrol squad car behind him.

"Y-Yes?" Dave stuttered. "Hello, Dave." Carl said, not offering his usual good natured smile.

"Is there something wrong?" Dave asked, dreading the answer. Carl sighed; Dave didn't miss the tears brimming in his eyes. "It's Cat, Dave." Carl said sadly.

Dave gripped the door frame for support; Carl reached out to help him. "What," Dave swallowed before continuing, "What happened to my daughter? Where is she?" He asked franticly.

Carl sighed again, "We found her, in the alley by Jordon's and the pizza place." Carl replied, not able to look into his friends eyes.

"Is she okay?" Dave asked, swallowing the lump in his throat. Carl finally looked Dave in the eyes, and shook his head.

Dave began to bawl, crying like a baby, but he didn't care. Cat? How could anything have happened to her? How could anything have happened to his baby girl?

Carl put a hand on his should, "God I'm so sorry, Dave!" He said shedding a few tears for the girl he'd known since she was little.

"We, we found these, I told them it was okay for you to keep 'em." Carl said dropping cat's heart shaped locket and her friendship bracelets into his hand.

Through his tears, Dave looked at Cat's sterling silver locket; he'd given it to her for her seventeenth birthday, just two weeks before. He closed his eyes and gripped the jewelry, still sobbing.

How could he ever survive with out Cat? His baby? His only child? How could have ever done this to Cat?

A few days later, Dave sat on his chair, still holding cat's necklace and bracelets in one hand, a glass of whisky in the other.

He examined the knotted gimp bracelet Cat and her best friend Lana had both shared. He noticed the second one right away. Cat had only had one bracelet, Lana held the other one. When Carl had given him both bracelets, he realized Lana had to have been near cat before or after she was murdered.

He had felt such shock at the thought that Lana would even consider hurting his daughter. Her _best friend_. Dave was still wondering if there was any other explanation for the second bracelet. So far, he had found none.

Lana had supposedly been kidnapped a few days before, but maybe, as horrible as it seemed, she was the true murderer.

"Son of a bitch!" He screamed throwing the glass of whisky against the wall. He sat back down and sobbed. When his vision cleared, he looked at the framed picture of Cat from her school yearbook. She was giving a beautiful smile, her hair was straightened and she was wearing her favorite white blouse.

"I will make sure Lana doesn't get away with this, Cat, I promise you." He said, looking at the picture and pressing his finger around her face.


	3. Subdued Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

Jase

Once again, I was stuck roaming around a city I had no business in. It was day, but I was lucky enough to find an abandoned hotel that I'd been staying in on the edge of town. The hotel was only half finished; the town had given up on the project when they realized the hotel had no use since tourism was at an all time low.

I wasn't the only vamp who had hunted out this place for a home though. There were a few other vamps scattered around the hotel, 'sleeping' in sheltered rooms and then disappearing at different times. Most of them went to towns nearby, I was the only one who stayed and hunted locally.

One dawn, a male vamp came into my room. He was in his early teens, he had long black hair and wore all black cloths, and he was the stereotypical vamp. His eyebrow and nose were pierced.

"Hey," He said, coming further into my room. I nodded to him, "Hello." I went back to reading my book, but the kid stayed. I turned to look at him, he was leaning against the door frame, and "Can I help you?" I asked a little annoyed.

"Name's Jared." He said, and held out his hand, I reluctantly shook it, "I'm Jason." I told him.

Jared stepped back and glanced around my room. I wondered what he was looking for, there wasn't any personalization done to my room. "You new here?" He asked. I nodded, "Yeah, and I don't plan on staying." I said getting of my bed and walking over to him.

"Are you a loner?" He asked. I cracked a smile, "I think the real question is; are _you _new here? And by here I don't mean the town," I said when he opened his mouth to speak, "I mean to the vampire world in general."

He looked down, embarrassed that I had noticed, "Yes," He confessed, "I was bitten only like a year ago." He said.

I nodded; I knew the feeling of being a new vampire with no one else to trust. "To answer your question, yes, I'm a loner, you?" I asked him, expecting the answer.

"Uh huh" He said, and then he looked down before asking the next question, "Hey Jason, would you consider, letting me travel with you? Just for a little while," He added before I could say anything, "I still need to get a hang of this blood craving stuff."

"I'd like to help you, Jared, but honestly, learning it by yourself helps later on, I know from experience."

Jared nodded sadly, disappointed that I wouldn't let him travel with me. But he didn't give up, "How long are you staying here?"

I thought about it for a moment, "I don't really know, not long though." I said. Jared smiled, "Well, while you're here can you give me a few pointers?" He asked eagerly, like a child anticipating a special gift.

"Why not?" I said and shrugged. Jared beamed and thanked me before leaving.

Over the next few days, Jared came into my room during daytime to ask me pestering questions about vampire life. He asked about controlling blood lust, which I tried to give tips but I still hadn't mastered that one myself.

He asked about burning and weaknesses and 'super-powers' as he liked to refer to them as. Just after sunset of the last day of my stay, Jared came in and simply stood in my door way.

Even though we had only been friends for a few days, Jared and I formed a bond and had really gotten to know each other. When you only have one friend in the world, I guess that can happen.

I could tell something was bothering him. "What is it Jared?" I asked looking up from my book, which I was now rereading for the third time. He looked up at me, "Before you go, I really need to ask one more question before you leave." He said.

I nodded and pointed to the couch on the other side of the room. He sat down. "Before I was transformed," he began nervously, "I had a girlfriend." I closed my eyes, remembering, not Kayla, but Lana. "And I saw her the other day and she recognized me. I hung out with her for a little while."

My eyes snapped open. But instead of yelling at the kid, I let him finish first.

"Not for a long time, we only talked for a few minutes. But in just those few minutes, I was so overwhelmed by the smell of her blood. It smelled delicious. It took all my strength not to hurt her."

More painfully memories of Lana haunted me.

"But I really think I can be with her and not hurt her even if she's human."

Now I interrupted, "No." I said, Jared looked up, startled by my tone, "But, Jase I really think I—"

"No!" I said again, more forcefully this time. 'It's dangerous, Jared. I know you think you won't hurt her, but you will." I said glaring at him.

He looked down, afraid to contradict me, "What if I changed her, too?" He asked tentively. I only glared at Jared harder, "Do you really think that's what she wants? To be killed?" I asked, softer not wanting to scare him, only to have him face reality.

Jared didn't say anything for a moment, but then he nodded. "Ok, thanks, Jase. Goodbye." He said getting up to leave.

I suddenly felt bad, "Jared, I tried to stay with my girlfriend, while I was a vamp." I said not facing him.

"How did it work?" He asked, wondering if I was changing my mind.

I closed my eyes, picturing the fear on Lana's face when I bit her, "Well," I said chuckling at my dark joke, "considering she's dead, not very good."

Lana

I looked up at the beautiful, cloudless, blue sky. The sun shimmering down and casting light over the restless city. I watched with envy and the people strolled about and let the sun warm their skin. They took it for granted; they had no idea how lucky they were.

I walked away from the boarded window quickly. As I had been gazing through one of the patched between the boards, my fingers were scorching, and my eyes hurt from squinted through the light.

I hissed as my finger tips blackened.

I used to love being out in the sun. I loved the feel of it as it warmed my back and shoulders. Now, if I was to try that stunt, I'd be charred in an instant.

I sighed and moved further away from the window, still holding my burned fingers.

The pain and envy added fuel to the fire I felt inside. So many things I could never do again.

I laid down on my makeshift bed, a few blankets and pillows tossed together.

Although vampires don't need sleep, I still tried on occasions, just to keep a little bit of humanity in me.

My stomach growled. I'd been trying not to feed. After what I did to Cat, I couldn't bear looking at another human with fear like hers, like mine.

As soon as night fell, I'd be driving towards Jase. I was getting closer to him, I could feel it.

My stomach growled again. Ignoring the hunger was painful. I hissed and growled crazy with hunger. With every hiss I uttered, I felt every ounce of humanity I still retained, slip away.

I pinched my eyes shut, determined to sleep. It was the only way to avoid the hunger. The hunger which was only yet another reminder that I was no longer human.

I think I did eventually fall asleep. A few hours later my eyes popped open. I turned towards the boarded up windows. Only the pale light of the moon was cast on the floor.

I jumped up and ran out of the room.

My watched told me it was eight o'clock. As I jogged down the street, my hunger returned with a greater anger. The streets were mostly empty. I threw glances across the street trying to find some food.

I was ravenous, I needed to feed I could feel my fangs protruding form my gums.

Suddenly, the headlights of a car in the distance dully reflected on the pavement. With out really dwelling on the idea, I quickly made a plan.

As the car drew close I had to squint my eyes, it felt like I was getting mild sunburn.

With just a few more feet the car would be here. With one swift movement I threw myself into the road and closed my eyes.

The smack of the metal and squeal of breaks echoed off the street. The force of the car hitting my, didn't feel more than a fly landing on me.

I opened my eyes. I was lying on my back, looking up at the stars. I pushed myself up and looked at the wreckage.

The car was dented deeply where I had hit. The hood was scratched and pushed up, and the windshield was shattered.

I walked over to the driver's door and yanked the damaged door off.

The driver, a middle-aged male, moaned with pain. His head was lying on his steering wheel; blood seeped from lacerations on his skull. My stomach growled in anticipation.

Slowly, the drivers eyelids fluttered, he open and he strained to sit up. He clutched his arm when he moved and fell back to the seat. Then he noticed my staring at him.

"What did I hit? Was it a person?" He asked, he voice sounding gurgling, like he had fluid in his throat. I nodded, "yea you hit me, when I dove into the road." I said nonchalantly.

He looked at me like I was crazy. "Are you insane? What were you trying to do, kill yourself?" I looked back at him, my eyes going into slits.

"Impossible. I was trying to get your attention." I said leaning against the car, still acing calmly. The man shook his head, "You're crazy, and I'm calling the police." He picked up his cell phone. I snatched it from him and crushed it in my hand.

He looked fearful, "How did you do that? And you don't really look like you just got hit by a car." He said examining my attire.

I opened my mouth and licked my fangs. "What the hell are you?" He asked.

I grinned, "A nightmare, "I whispered before lunging forward, I forced myself into the car and held him down, he yelped in pain as I sat on his broken arm.

Enjoying his pain, I picked it up and twisted it, it cracked sickeningly. He moaned, this isn't real." He muttered.

"Still not convinced?" I asked. I brought my face closer to his, letting him get a nice look at my teeth. "Don't deny what you can't see." And with those as my parting words, I sunk my teeth into his vein, greedily sucking down his delicious blood. He moaned, but had no energy to fight me off. I licked the blood from his wound after draining him.

In the distance sirens sounded. I pushed the man forward, his head leaning on the wheel as it originally was.

I turned form the scene and ran away, leaving the carcass and accident behind me.

A few moments later, the police arrived. I kept my perch on the rooftop, still stalking my pray like a lioness.

My eyes were luminescent in the darkness. I used my expert vision to watch the cops work. The first a young man, with crew-cut blond hair, jumped out and went to check the drivers pulse.

"My God," he said examining the crash, "What the hell did he hit?" He asked out loud.

The second cop emerged, a fat older man with a bald head, strolled over nonchalantly to the crash eating a doughnut.

"Not sure," He muttered in between chews, "but whatever or whoever it was must be okay, no sign of it."

The younger officer looked at him annoyed, "It doesn't make any sense, look at the depth of the dent. He hit it with a lot of force. There's not way a human could survive this."

I silently jumped off the rooftop, "You're right." I said stepping out of the shadows.

The pair spun around to face me. The chubby cop smiled and drank in my body, Why hello there." He said.

"Pig," I spat, ignoring him I strutted over seductively to the younger cop who eyed me suspiciously.

"Who are you?" He asked. I smiled, "Lana, nice to meet you too." I said.

"Listen we can't have anyone here while we're processing a scene." He said

My smile only grew, "But, that's the good thing, I'm part of the scene." I said batting my eyes to him. He rolled his in response.

"How?" He asked, deciding to play along.

"We, you see, I caused the accident." I said stroking the car as I walked by it. I stopped where the door used to be and put my hand on the drivers shoulder.

I when I turned toward them again, my eyes were red, luminescent in the night, and my fangs were exposed. I smiled again, "Believe me yet?"

Both officers instinctively drew their guns out and aimed at me.

I laughed, "See if you can stop me." I mocked.

"Hold it!" The chubby cop yelled as I stepped forward. I took another deliberate step forward and grinned at the. The younger cop took no chances and squeezed the trigger.

The bullet slammed into my shoulder. I flinched as it hit me but remained standing they watched, horrified, as I plucked the bullet out and flicked it away.

Then with a demonic laugh and roar I charged forward, fangs ablaze and gleefully murdered the cops

Jase

I leaned against the alley, waiting. No one was in sight. I merely stood and waited, glancing around the abandoned section of town, imagining what may have been here.

I heard voices soon enough though. Girls, I could tell. High pitch and giggly. I straightened up and bummed out the cigarette I'd been smoking. Being a vampire, it wouldn't affect me.

As the girls walked by, I flashed a smile at them. They both broke into giggles and stopped. "Hey I'm Lacy." The pretty blonde one said. I beamed again, and held out my hand, "Nice to meet you, I'm Jase." I said, kissed her hand when she put hers in mine. She blushed. Her brunette friend laughed, "Cute, I'm Catie by the way." She said also offering her hand. I a kissed it and stared at the pair.

"So, what are you doing just standing around out here?" Lacy asked, her voice had a slight southern twang to it, it was cute. "Just relaxing, I've been busy lately." I said shrugging.

Catie instantly moved forward, almost pressing against me, "Well, let us help you unwind some more." She said pulling me along.

This time I laughed, "Why not." Lacy clapped and giggle, "Yay! Let's go!" She reminded me of a child.

The two brought me to a bar they knew off. I had the suspicion that they were both underage, as was I, but the security guard at the door, hardly noticed and allowed them in.

I sat in both while Lacy and Catie took off dancing. As the two bumped and grinded their way to the dance floor, I had to suppress my laughter. Catie was a desperate flirt.

A waitress came over to my table. "Can, I get you anything, Hun?" She asked eyeing me. I just shook my head. "Nothing for me, but how about a few beers for my dates." I stressed the's' and pointed to Catie and Lacy.

The waitress didn't hide her disappointment, "Sure thing." She muttered.

Catie and Lacy returned a few moments later. I passed them their drinks, and talked with them. Lacy was happy for the conversation. Unfortunately, I could tell all Catie wanted was to head back to my apartment and see how far she could get tonight.

After a few more beers, and more dancing from Catie, we left.

We walked down the street for a while, my arm around both of them. I pulled Lacy in closer, Catie was getting jealous. I was enjoying her greediness. I poked Lacy's shoulder, and she looked up at me. I plopped a kiss on her lips, she seemed surprised but she eagerly returned the kiss.

"Why, why are you only kishing her?" She asked, her voice slurring from her drinks.

I ignored her, "Well, I best be going home. But the party doesn't have to end here, you ladies wanna join me?" Lacy nodded, still flustered from the kiss. Catie also nodded, but I could tell she was fuming on the inside.

"Good. Then let's go." I grabbed each of there hands and bolted down the street. They struggled and managed to keep up.

When we got back to the alley I had originally been loitering in, I grabbed Lacy close. "Ready for this?" I asked mysteriously. She nodded, thinking something way different then what really was about to happen. I smiled, my fangs beginning to poke out, "Good."

I grabbed a fistful of Lacy's blond hair and threw her into the alley. She screamed and fell to the ground. Catie idiotically ran toward her, to help.

"What the hell is your problem?" Catie yelled at me, putting her arms protectively around Lacy, who was crying.

"It's in my nature, babe."

I jumped and landed on Catie's leg. She screamed, but I cut it off putting a hand over her mouth. Lacy could only sit next to her in shock. I wasted no time with witty lines and quickly bit Catie's neck, she whimpered for a moment before quietly slumping to the ground while I finished her off.

Then I turned to Lacy. The second I did so, her tears began to flow harder and she gazed at me in fear. "Good bye Lacy." I said, I kissed her once more and then bit her. She cried harder, but only for a moment, she then fell next to Catie. I looked at the pair once more, and sighed.

Just another night in my life.

Lana

I sped through the highways and streets, the cities and towns were blending together. I kept driving, stopping only for feeding, other than that I drove quickly and efficiently, I would get to Jase soon.

As I was passing through one of the hundreds of cities a feeling slammed into me. It was hard to identify at first. It tingles my senses, making me think _stop!_ And forcing me to do so. I sat in my car; my eyes squeezed shut, trying to identify the strange feeling. Then, it hit me, tons of memories of Jase.

He was here.

I grinned to myself and slammed down on the gas pedal. Jase was in for the surprise of his life.


	4. Subdued Chapter 4

_Chapter 4_

Jase

I sat on my bed, tossing a bouncy ball against the ceiling and catching it as it came back down. I'd been doing this for hours. I was the image of boredom at the moment.

I sighed and sat back up. Examining the ball in my hand like it was the most fascinating thing on the world. With a grunt I threw it to the other side of the room.

The ball flew with enormous force to the other side of the room, through the plaster wall, and outside to the street below.

"Shit!" I jumped up to make sure no one was there. It was night so I opened up the curtains. Being that it was three a.m., no one was around. The ball was all alone in the middle of the rood.

I smiled, that was kind of cool. I turned from the window and sat back on my bed. I wished I could sleep, just so I could have something to do.

Suddenly, a scream shattered the silence of the night. I jumped up and went to the window again.

Across the street, next to where my defenseless bouncy ball laid, I could see two figures moving. One, with a knife and obviously an upper-hand moving toward the second figure, a young girl, I assumed she had screamed.

I puzzled over what to do for a moment. Playing hero probably wasn't a bad idea, but then again it wasn't a fantastic idea either. But, I supposed if I'm going to kill to feed, I might as well clean the streets of the scum of the Earth.

But, if I'm going to do this I'm going to do it with style. I went back a few feet, took a deep breath of unneeded air and charged through the wall.

As I broke though, both people turned to face me.

"What the hell?" I heard the male murderer say.

I landed perfectly and took off running towards the man. He was staring at me like he couldn't believe I was real. I smiled and ran faster until I smashed into him and knocked him to the ground.

"Oh! Man, I think you just broke some of my ribs!" I grinned again. I was glad I decided to do this.

"That's what you get for trying to kill people, Buddy." I said punching him in the jaw. He groaned and turned onto his side.

I leaned in closer to him, "Guess what the best part of all this is." I whispered into his ear. He turned again to he could look at me.

I let my fangs protrude from my mouth so he could see them clearly. His eyes widened, "Dude, are you for real?" he asked. This guy wasn't too bright.

"No, this is all just a dream, smartass." I dug my teeth into his neck and pulled back, literally ripping out his throat. He didn't have time to scream before he put his hand to his wound, trying to stop the blood. I got a firm hold of his arm and ripped it from its socket. I heard the victim behind me scream. The guy gasped and laid still, his only action was the rapid blinking of his eyes.

I decided to end the fun and suck down his blood. When I was done I stood up and sighed with pleasure.

Remembering the girl behind me I turned around and patted my stomach, "Good eating. Looks like I got here just in time. You okay?" I asked.

The girl stared at me with frightened eyes, and nodded quickly. I imagined how I must look to her, covered with blood and guts of I guy I just killed right in front of her.

But I wasn't done yet I had to play it up even more. I nodded to her and said, "Just be more careful next time, I won't always be around to lend a hand, miss." When I said 'lend I hand' I pulled up the dead guys arm and wagged it at her. She screamed, I laughed, good day for me.

I saluted the girl before jumping onto the buildings side and running across a rooftop. I could still hear her confused and terrified screams as I jogged off. I wondered briefly if she could hear my hysteric laughter.

Lana

I had dropped my car off at a parking garage somewhere earlier. From then on, I'd been on foot sniffing and searching for Jase's scent. He was close, _very_ close, I could feel it.

I kept to the shadows, pressing against the walls of buildings, so if Jase was to hear me, I would still b safe for a moment.

_Crunch. _I spun around at the sound. It sounded like someone had stepped on a branch or was just dragging his feet. My powerful eyes scanned the darkness; I searched for any hint of life.

_Thud. _I spun around again. Did he see me? Did he know I was here and is watching me? I hissed a warning. Then I heard footsteps, someone running. Two people running. A scream. The footsteps were heading away from me. I hissed louder in anger and darted off in the direction they were going.

I scaled up a building and crept low as I ran. I could see the figures now. One was a human boy, probably younger than me, maybe only fourteen. The other, unmistakably a vampire. I tried to get a better look at him, but he was facing away from me.

I stopped and sat on the building, still watching the two. The human was crying and begging to let live. The vampire laughed, it was a familiar laugh. I growled quietly.

I watched closely as the vampire picked up the boy by his collar. The boy yelped. Then the vampire did something unexpected. He picked up the boy, put him on his back and jumped up the wall of a building across from me.

He threw the boy down. I watched as the vampire leaned back then dug in for the kill. The boy screamed once, it was abruptly ended by the vampire's venom.

Now was my chance. I quietly slunk off the building. When I was safe in the darkness between my building and another, I waited for the vampire to be distracted before, I bolted across the street. I hid in the darkness again, waiting for the right moment.

I could hear the vampire slurping and savagely eating the boy. I hissed it was making me hungry. I slowly climbed up the wall and waited for a second before getting on top. The vampire was on the other side of the building.

It was Jase. He didn't see me yet. And for a moment all I did was glare at him, thinking of all the ways to kill him. With my demonic hiss I ran forward.

Jase's reign was over.


	5. Subdued Chapter 5

_Chapter 5_

Jase

I quickly finished off the boy I was currently feasting on. He had okay blood. It was tainted with alcohol, but it was still worth the kill.

I wiped the blood from my mouth on my sweatshirt sleeve before getting ready to leave. I stretched my back. It had been an easy relaxing day. But I needed to move on to Las Vegas. I hoped to get a head start tonight, stop before morning and get to my destination by morning.

I turned around when I heard a strange hiss in the distance. It echoed off the block. It made it difficult to tell where it came from. I did a three-sixty turn and saw nothing at first. A second louder, even stranger hiss echoed again.

I hissed back, and turned around just in time to see a figure come crashing down on me.

It was a female vampire. And she was strong. At first all I was saw her hair. It was long, curly, and a purplish color in the darkness.

The second she landed on my she ambushed me with punches, claws, and bites. I tried t fight her off but she surprised me. She must have been a newborn to fight like this.

I went to push her both, when she punched me hard in the face. I groaned, "Lady! What the hell is your problem?" I screamed at her.

She hissed in response, and bit my neck. The venom wouldn't affect me, and the bite wouldn't really either, but it did hurt.

I roared and shoved her off. The youngling landed in a crouch and hissed at me again. She stayed in her position, waiting for me to attack.

I was about to charge forward, but stopped as I glared at her. She was beautiful of course, but she was also strangely familiar.

Her face was speckled with golden freckles and her almond shaped eyes, were familiar. They were dark crimson now, but something about her was still familiar.

The realization hit me right then. But it was impossible.

"Lana?" I chocked out in shock.

She growled in fury and jumped for me again. I made no attempt to move; she clawed and tried to bit me with greater force. I didn't understand. I grabbed her arms and pulled her off of me.

"Lana! It's me Jase!" I yelled over her grunts and hisses. She looked as if she was losing more and more of her humanity just by fighting me.

She hissed demonically again, "I know its you!" She spat. I just stared at her, "Then why are you attacking me, if you know it's me, Lan?"

Angry tears began to form in her eyes, "Don't call me that!" She yelled between clenched teeth.

"Ok, ok," I said putting my hands up in surrender, "Lana, what happened to you?" I asked her, putting my hand on her shoulder.

She dug her nails into my hand and pulled my hand off her shoulder. "What happened to me? Are you serious? You killed me!" She screamed. More tears formed and fell down her cheeks, she cried openly now, but her anger didn't diminish.

I felt horrible. Oh, yea that's right,_ I_ killed her. I didn't know what to say to her. I wanted to talk to her, ask her why she cam e her, how she even was alive. But I had a feeling she didn't come to me for an apology.

"Lana, I'm sorry." Was all I managed to say.

She turned to me, her eyes cold and hard. "Sorry? That's all you have to say to me, Jase? You killed me." She started toward me again.

"And you are gonna pay to what you did to me, and what you did to Brittany, and what you did to Cat." She said, with each name she got closer to me, until her face was nearly pressed against mine.

I had to look away, "Lana, please, I know I can never say anything to make up for what I did to you—"

"No, you can't!" She hissed and charged forward again.

She easily pinned me to the ground and brought her face close to mine.

"You have three choices," She said, exposing her fangs as she spoke.

"One, I can rip your head off," She kneed me hard as she said this, I groaned.

"Two, I can rip every appendix from your body slowly and painfully," This time she clawed me face, drawing five long scars from my forehead to my chin. I yelled in pain.

"Or three, I can put you in the burning sun tomorrow." She hissed. I groaned again, "Lana, please."

She only uttered a low growl, "Your choice, Jase."

Her face was still nearly pressed against mine, her blood red lips were slightly parted to show her fangs. She still held my hands to the ground, but she eased on her grip, figuring I wouldn't fight back probably.

I chose not to answer her question.

"If you don't choose Jase, I will," She said angrily, "And I promise you, it won't be merciful."

I closed my eyes, "can I at least stand up?" I asked gingerly. I heard her sigh. She thought about it for a moment before getting back up.

When I stood, Lana was still poised to attack if needed. I stared at her for a moment, actually wondering which way to die.

"Jase, give me your choice or I swear I will kill you right now." She said taking the three steps needed to stand next to me.

I looked to her. I could find no traces of sympathy in those cold eyes, only hatred. I turned to Lana. I slowly raised my hand to stroke her face.

Lana hissed and flinched when I touched her; she raised her own hand to slap me, but leaned forward before she could. She raised her eyebrow when I leaned forward, unsure about what I was doing.

I kissed her, square on the lips. Lana gasped, but did nothing. She didn't return the kiss, but she didn't push me away either.

When I finally pulled away, Lana was staring at me in shock. I thought I saw a flash of emotion in her face for a moment, but her old mask quickly returned.

She slapped me across the face. "What the hell was that? Do you think with one kiss, I would just stop and forgive you like that?" She said. She kicked me in the crotch. I fell to the ground with my hands between my legs.

When I regained my posture I looked up at Lana, who was towering over me, snarling.

"No, I didn't expect you to forgive me. But I had to do it, Lana. I figured if you're going to kill me, I might as well admit that I love you." As corny as it was, I knew what I was saying was true. Lana said nothing; she only continued to stare at me in disbelief. "I love you Lana." I finally said.

Lana crotched down next to me and looked me in the eyes. No anger was apparent in her face. She sighed. When she looked at me again, she had more tears glistening in her eyes. Then she stood back up. I thought she was going to walk away. But she didn't.

When she turned her back to me, I could hear her voice shaking, indicating that she was crying. She kicked my in the jaw with her boot.

"Sorry, Jase. That's not gonna do it. And now I'm choosing your death." She said grabbing me.

She grabbed something from her pocket and stuck it to my back. I was jolted with something. It might have been electricity. I slumped to the ground. My vision was blurry and my hearing was awkward now, but I could still make out what Lana was saying as she leaned over my body, "I'll be back, Jase, sleep tight."

Lana

I walked away from Jase's paralyzed body, with out looking back. I dried my tears and mentally scolded myself for even considering crying.

I ran at amazing speeds toward my abandoned bungalow, grabbed a few supplies, shoved them into my backpack, and ran back to Jase.

I dumped my bag next to Jase's body. He still hadn't moved since I left.

"Good boy." I said and squatted down next to him. He was sweating and in pain, just the way I wanted it.

"Now, I suppose you're wondering what I'm going to do. Well, first I'm going to use this," I pulled a long knife out of my backpack, "to cut you up. Then I'm going to pin you here 'till morning when the sun comes to burn you up. Won't that be interesting." I say patting his head.

"Lana," He said between gasps, "Please, can't we at least talk?" Jase asks pleadingly. I shook my head, "You lost that right when you killed me." I got up and began to walk away. I wasn't going to begin just yet.

"Ok fine, then just listen," He said. I turned around to look at Jase's pathetic form.

"I do love you, Lana. I know it's impossible to believe but it's true. Killing you, that was inevitable, I guess, you have amazing blood, it was impossible to refuse. But, I'm sorry." Jase sighed and looked like he was giving himself a pep talk before going on.

"After, I killed you, I had to move from city to city, and I got lonely. I started thinking that all my life was just killing and eating, killing and eating, that was it. So I got a lot of time to think during the day. And most of the time, you were all I thought about. I thought about the day I met you and how different you were.

"I guess it was just really bad timing that finally made me realize that I love you, Lana. Killing you, I can't explain that, I don't expect you to forgive me. I just want you to know that, I love you, I'm telling the truth. The only thing I ask is for you to believe that much." Jase finished with another longing look at me.

I stayed quiet during his little speech, letting him get out all his confessions before dying.

I said nothing now; too, I didn't know what he expected me to say. Frankly, I didn't know what I expected myself to say.

"Do you believe me, Lana?" He finally asked.

I sighed, "You know what Jase, and I do believe you. I believe that you finally realized that you loved me after I was dead and done for. And you know what else? I believe that you never even knew that I loved you." I didn't know why I saw saying this. The words were just flowing from my mouth.

"I don't know what it was about you, but with in those few days we spent together, I fell madly in love with you. And having you torture me like that, that was awful. You broke my heart, Jase. It was horrible, that kind of betrayal doesn't fade away easily." I said, I could feel tears beginning to form.

"I know, Lana. I wish I could take it back. I wish you were human and I hadn't been so weak." He said shaking his head.

I took a deep breath to steady my voice, "And I haven't told you the worst part yet, Jase," I said. I waited for him to look at me before saying the last sentence.

"I still love you, Jase."

Jase

Hearing Lana say those words made my day. I knew I still wasn't forgiven, but knowing Lana loved me back, was still worth while.

She was still crying as she admitted it. I could tell she had probably just admitted it to herself as well. She came over to me, and cut the rope around my wrists and ankles loose. The shock of whatever weapon she'd used on me earlier was wearing off, and I was able to get up.

"Lana, I meant what I said; I really do wish I could take back what happened." I said going closer to her. She didn't seem vicious and powerful anymore, only depressed. I was comfortable enough to put my hand on her cheek. She looked up at me with her big eyes, still red with the endless thirst.

"So do I." She whispered back. She finally collapsed and fell into my arms. "I hate you, and I love you, Jase. I don't know what to do, but this feels right." She murmured into me. I pulled her closer.

Too soon, we pulled apart. I looked down at her, ecstatic that she had somewhat forgiven me. I cautiously leaned down towards Lana. She made no attempt to stop me so I continued.

This kiss was better. A millions times so. Lana returned the kiss and we stood there, on the rooftop kissing, letting all of the horrible things in our past melt away.

"I love you, Lana." I said. She gave a small smile, and nodded, "I know."

I eventually, again, had to peel away from our embrace. There were still important matters at hand.

"So, what now, Lana? What happens to me?" I asked wearily, still afraid of her answer.

She frowned, "I don't know. I mean from the moment of this existence my sole purpose has been killing you. But now I'm just not sure anymore."

I had a feeling we were both thinking the same thing; I can't believe how easily Lana was broken, it should have taken longer. If anything, she never should have been broken at all.

"Honestly, I want to just stay with you now, Jase. But, and this is going to sound weird, I feel like I should be killing you. But now, I don't want to." Yea that did sound weird I thought.

"Lana, I love you. But I know that I deserve to die for what I did to you. So, if you still hate me, kill me." I can't believe I was just offering myself to her like this. Before meeting Lana, I would have never even considered it.

"I can't, Jase. I don't hate you. I did so much, as much as I was capable of, but having you say you loved me, I don't know, it made me realize I loved you the same time I hated you." She said. Then she laughed, "Wow. We are in a really awkward position right now.

"It doesn't have to be." I said kissing her again. We did that for a long time. Just laid down on the roof and kissed, letting everything else fade away.

Lana and I stayed together for a long time. We sat there kissing, and doing other things. I loved her and she loved me, and we had an eternity together, literally.

Suddenly, Lana jumped up and screamed. I stood up abruptly and put my hands on her shoulders, "What's wrong?" I asked her.

"The sun is rising!" She said grabbing my hand and pulling me along.

"Shit!" I yelled and followed her.

The sun was halfway up in the sky. Luckily, we had been sitting out behind a doorway to the roof on the building for more privacy. It was, thankfully, on the opposite side of the sun. But we must have moved a little, because Lana saw that sun.

We quickly ducked into an alley; it offered us a little shade. Lana was squinting and shielding herself with her arm. I looked quickly and saw a door. We broke it in and dove inside.

"Are you okay?" I asked after we were safely deeper into the building. She nodded, "yea, my arms a little burned but I'm okay." I went to look at her arm.

"Don't worry it's nothing." She said. I still looked at it.

Her entire left arm was black form the sun's burn. "Shit Lana!" I ran through the building looking for a sink. I eventually found one, three floors up, and put some cold water on a towel and brought it down to her.

She flinched when I put it on. "Damn that hurts." She said, gritting her teeth. "You need to be more careful another burn like that could be more serious, Lana." I said ringing the water on her arm. "I know." She muttered.

We sat in silence for a while, just staring at her arm, and watching the burn slowly fade away. Vampires heal quickly.

"How are we going to live?" She finally asked. I looked up at her. She was still staring at her arm, but she had a glazed expression, her thoughts were miles away.

"What do you mean?"

"If we are going to stay together, how are we going to live and where?" She asked finally picking her head up to look at me.

I didn't know how to answer. Hunting in groups was easy for vamps, so food wasn't an issue. But because there were two of us, we would have to move more often.

"I'm not sure," I said slowly, "But as long as we do what we used to. Move around, stay hidden, kill in secrecy, we should be fine."

Lana nodded, still obviously thinking about something else. I put my hand over hers; she glanced up at me with a tired expression.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know. I was just thinking that, I've been a vampire for only days; you have been one for years. And I'm starting to realize that I really don't know anything about myself. About being a vampire in general."

It was true. Although I had told Lana a little about vamp life back when she was human, she still didn't know all of it. She only knew what she did base on myths and the limited evidence I told her.

"We'll you better get comfy, this is going to be a long conversation." I sat and got ready to tell her everything.

Lana

Jase told me everything there was to know about vampires. Feeding habits (which I had basically already got down), strength, 'powers', extra abilities, and more on ways to kill humans and transform them.

I learned that some vampires can be given gifts; usually it was based off of something they had back in their human lives. For example, if a human believed they were a physic or worked as one, if they were ever turned, they may be given the ability to effectively read minds.

I was a bit jealous I wished I had had a cool ability like that. Jase said he didn't have one, and not many vamps get one, that they were pretty rare.

When he talked about transforming humans, we both got a little uncomfortable. It was apparent both of our minds drifted to when Jase killed me. I felt a slight pang of anger for a moment, but I ignored it.

I had a million questions, but I only asked a few. I wanted to really understand this world and I wanted, and needed to, soon. I had made it fine for the last few days, but now, this information was absolutely necessary.

The more Jase told me on the limitations of this life, the more I began to miss being alive, and regret my killing sprees, but there was nothing I could do now.

The constant stream o f information Jase was flinging at me did help a great deal. I knew more about vampires than I ever thought I would. I was still hesant so ask one particular question. For one thing, it would Jase uncomfortable and two, I really don't even know why I wanted to know.

Jase had finished his little speech about how we would never age, not even a day for the rest of out existence. I gave him a small smile and nodded.

"Any more questions? He asked sensing my reluctance in the awkward silence. I nodded. Well?" He asked.

I changed my position form sitting cross-legged to kneeling and facing him, "Ok, don't freak out when I ask you this, because Jase, I have to ask this." I said putting my hands up in front of me as I spoke.

"ok, what?" Jase kept his smile but he sounded a bit nervous.

I took a deep breath then with a determination in me, asked, " Can vampires get pregnant?" I said spitting the question out quickly.

"Oh," Jase said in relief, his idea of my question had obviously been worse than the actual thing. He regained his composure and began to look a little awkward, "Well, um, I don't think so Lana. I think things like that are made for the human world, not for us."

"Oh," was all I said in the brief silence that followed, I looked down sadly at the floor.

"Di-did, you want a child?" Jase finally asked me. I looked up and nodded slowly. The pain on Jase's face was evident. I could tell he was blaming himself for my inability to have a child.

I shook my head, "It's not your fault, Jase." Yes, it was.

"I'm sorry Lana." I nodes, yet another awkward silence followed.

I looked about the room for something to occupy my eyes. I sound found a patch of orangey-yellow sunlight on a panel of wood. I watch that for a few moments. I watched closely as the shades changed from bright oranges and yellows to dark purples and blues.

"It's time to hunt." I said turning to face Jase. For the first time he smiles, and nods, "Let's go." I also grin, both of us forgetting the recent awkwardness of the day and preparing for the excitement of the night.

The nights went by quickly; Jase and I were an unstoppable team when it came to hunting. We chose a prey and managed a quick, clean kill with minimum damage.

During the days we stayed inside, shielding ourselves from the sun. We both read a lot or watched TV when something decent was actually on. On the sunnier days, we could still see the rays poking through the boarded up windows. I would watch it longingly before trying to occupy my mind with another mindless activity.

I wanted so badly to feel the sun again, so I decided to try an experiment, one Jase didn't approve of.

I rummaged through the building, and stole where I had to, mirrors from everywhere. I set them up so the sunlight would reflect off of one to another and another and so on, till it was shinning on me.

Jase had warned me that we didn't know the effects of indirect sunlight, but I didn't care, I'd already been burned once, what was one more going to do? _Kill you, _Jase's voice echoed in my head. I ignored the repeating threats and continued my experiment.

Finally on a bright and sunny day, when the mirrors were set up correctly, I stood in the path of the reflected sunlight. I braced myself for pain, incase it didn't work. Jase stood on the sidelines looking skeptical.

"Couldn't you just put an arm or a leg out first, in case it doesn't work?" He kept asking. I rolled my eyes, "I'll be fine, and I think I've got this down."

Cautiously, I stepped into the refracting sunlight. I closed my eyes and steeled myself in case I burned. Nothing happened.

There was no heat to the light, but the sun was technically shining on me, I laughed. I had worked. I tossed my hair over my shoulder and looked at Jase with an 'I told you so look, "It worked." I said, grinning.

He laughed, "Yea it did!" And he jumped into the way of the light with me. We both stood there, feeling nothing, but taking this as an accomplishment. We stayed there for hours, laughing and standing there like morons, loving this idea.

After that we would set up the mirrors at night when we returned from hunting to enjoy the sun's bliss in the morning. I would eagerly wait for the sun to rise; we had managed to find a way to direct the mirrors in the correct pattern to bounce the light towards us.

Jase liked the idea too, but he got bored with it way earlier than I did. I could stand for hours in the false sunlight, pretending for a moment I was human and everything was okay. I don't think Jase saw the reason behind the experiment.

"Lana, let's go, I'm starving!" Jase begged, I looked at him, his eyes were almost black, and he needed to feed. I nodded, "Let's go." His fangs popped out the moment I said it.

We ran through the night, hissing and racing each other through the mostly deserted streets. It was Jase's turn to lure the victims into their graves tonight.

We both got cheap thrills out of being the one to bring the humans in for the kill. It was entertaining and hilarious.

I was perched on a rooftop, watching with desire as Jase slowly brought the food closer. I hissed, and began to crawl down the wall. I bet I looked pretty freaking, moving down the wall, crab-style.

I stopped when I was just above their head. Although he didn't look at me in the slightest way, I knew Jase knew I was ready. He was now just freaking out the meal, but it was my turn. I opened my mouth wide and hissed.

The humans, a group of four teenagers, spun around and screamed when they saw my fangs. They stared in awe as I planted myself firmly on the ground. "Are you ready for this?" I asked maliciously, the teenagers said nothing, the girls whimpered and the boys only watched me. To a human, I know I was beautiful and it was to my advantage that I could distract them with it.

At the same moment, Jase and I lunged forward and ripped apart the group. They screamed and cried as they watched their friends die in agony. I laughed as I sloshed around in one of the girl's blood. Jase had gotten to the males and quickly disposed of them. Only one girl remained standing, screaming as she watched in terror as I killed the other female. "Stop it!" She kept crying, but she knew it would do no good.

Finally, I stood up and glowered at her. I was taller than her by at least a foot, she cowered under me. She was still sobbing and whimpering.

"Shh, it's ok now, it'll all be over soon." I soothed her. For a moment, I think she believed me. I put my hands to her face and rubbed her check gently, "Close your eyes." I whispered to her. She reluctantly did so. With a single movement, my grasp began firmer and I jerked her head harshly to the side, snapping her neck. She made one last moan before I dropped her to the ground.

Jase dove down after her, I let him drink. I stretched and sat down, while he finished up.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a movement in my peripheral. It was very slight, but noticeable to me. I turned quickly to see what it was. Nothing was there. Even with me improved vision, I could see nothing. I hissed, trying to scare whoever was there. Still nothing.

Jase put his hands on my shoulders, making me forget about the shadow. I looked up at his blood smeared face. "You might wanna clean up," I said drawing a line in the blood with my finger, and licking it clean, "You have a little smudge here." I said jokingly.

He grinned, a bloody smile, "Really, I didn't think it was that noticeable." He said winking. I laughed, and playfully punched him in the shoulder.

"C'mon, let's go, a group like this won't be missing for long before the police get involved." I nodded and got on Jase's back.

"I'm tired, ride?" I knew we were both thinking that I couldn't be tired, it was only a memory.

"Fine."

"To home!" I shouted.

Jase started running at impossible speeds toward our little home. I smiled as the wind blew wildly against my face.

When we got back, Jase pulled me off him and started kissing me. I returned the kiss willingly. We did that for most of the rest of the night. It had been a good one.


	6. Subdued Chapter 6

_Chapter 6_

Jase

The next few weeks went by quickly. And Lana and I began to find a pattern in our life, we did the same things over and over, we were stuck in a rut, a dull dreadful rut.

We stayed in during the days, kissing and sooner or later we made it to the bed. We did that for a while. Lana also liked to stay in the indirect sunlight, pretending she was human. She wouldn't admit it, but I knew that was what she was wishing.

As for me, I was waiting for Lana to finish playing pretend so I could make out with her again. Other than that I mostly loitered around the abandoned building watching TV or listening to music.

At night, Lana and I eagerly burst from our home to hunt. We were both starving by then and we usually killed more than necessary. I knew we needed to move, the town would be on higher alert with the death rate growing. No one would ever suspect vampires, but it was better to be on the safe side.

When we returned from hunting we would usually kiss and make love more before Lana would go on the rooftop.

At first I wasn't sure what she did up there, but once I spied on her, though she would never know I did, and saw all she did was sit and stare up at the moon.

"Jase, ready to go?" Lana asked dragging me back from my self pity. I nodded, "Let's do this." I said standing up; I had been sitting on the floor, apparently staring into space.

We both jumped out onto the roof and scouted out. Luckily there was a meal right outside. Two boys, teenagers it looked like, drinking and smoking by the building. I usually didn't like to drink druggie blood; it tasted weird, like the chemicals contaminated the sweetness of the bloods flavor. I hissed, to tell Lana. She jogged over and looked over the side like I was doing, to see my choice. She hissed and shook her head. I knew she wanted better blood, but we were both starving, Lana's eyes were already a deep crimson color, I guessed mine were the same.

"I'm starving, let's just do this quickly and effectively, just ignore the sour part." I said almost pleading with her. She rolled her eyes and glanced down once more before nodding. I ginned.

I was about to jump down when Lana held out her hand to stop me. She gave a small smile before walking off the edge of the building. I watched her land in front of the delinquents. They gasped when they saw her.

"Hey boys." I heard her say seductively.

One of the boys coughed and elbowed the other before replying, "Hey, what's up?"

It was my turn to roll my eyes, if they guy was trying to be smooth, it wasn't working at all.

Lana could act well though, she smiled and giggled, "You boys wanna hang out with me and my friend?" She whispered to them, like it was some big secret. They both nodded eagerly.

Lana looked up to the building at me, "well, come on down." She said. I laughed and jumped off.

The boys were obviously surprised to see me jump down next to Lana.

"Hey guys, you ready to do this?" Being the perverted teenagers they were, they both thought something not even closely related to what I was thinking.

"Uh, no thanks, man." The first boy said, started to shove past me. I grabbed his arm and pushed him back against the wall.

"I don't think so." I whispered harshly. The kid looked at me with defiance, "Let go, dude!" He yelled.

I put my hand over his mouth, "Just shut up." His eyes widened but he wasn't looking at me.

I turned to see Lana ripping apart the other kid brutally. She usually wasn't that bad, but tonight something lessened her control as she greedily gulped down his blood.

The kid I was holding whimpered, losing all his manliness in an instant. I smiled, letting him see my fangs, "Not so tough now." I mumbled to myself before taking I chunk out of his neck in one colossal bite.

Lana

I ripped the boy limb from limb. I downed his blood in seconds. I don't know what caused me to act so barbaric, but whatever it was caused me to be down right brutal to this poor kid.

I could tell even Jase wasn't surprised, though he wasn't much better on a regular basis. He usually ate with gross habits and blunt force.

I pushed myself up from the ground and wiped the blood from my face on my sleeve. Jase did the same. Without saying anything he grabbed the two boys by their ankles and began dragging them away. I just sat on an old crate crossing my legs. Jase glared at me as I sat, I pretended to examine my nails.

"No, thanks, I'm good. You don't need to help, babe." He said, feigning weakness as he lugged the bodies around. I laughed, "Good, 'cause I'm kinda comfy here." I said winking at him.

Jase hauled the bodies, one over each shoulder, and jogged to the other side of the street to hide them. I stayed in my spot watching him go.

_Clank._ My head flung around at the sound and I snarled as a reaction. I squinted and glared around to see what made the sound. Jase and I might just get to have dessert if someone had seen our little meal. I got up and walked out of the alley. I scanned the surrounding area with care. I could see no one.

There was another low clanking sound, I again searched in the darkness but could still see nothing. Then from the corner of my eye I saw a movement. I could make out the silhouette of a person pressed against a wall in the near distance. I growled audibly and darted off towards the shadow.

"Lana?" I could hear Jase calling behind me.

I ignored him and focused on the mysterious shadow. When it saw I was running toward it, the shadow ran.

I snarled again and sped up. I could hear his footsteps as he ran and tried to hide from me.

I came to another intersection and stopped. I gazed around, looking for any hint of the shadow. I closed my eyes and listened closely. I could faintly hear his breathing.

"I know you're there." I snarled into the night, "Don't think I won't find you." I whispered the threat, just loud enough for anyone close by to hear.

"Lana!" Jase grabbed my shoulders and jerked e around to face him. At first, not realizing it was him, I bit down.

"Ow! Damn Lana!" Jase said, ripping his arm from my mouth.

I jumped back in a defensive position. I was bent down in a crouch glaring up at Jase and snarling. He put his hands up to signal surrender.

"Wow, Lana, it's me, Jase. What's going on?" He sounded concerned.

I shook my head and slowly stood up. I wobbled for a moment, and jase caught me before I fell.

"Sorry," I muttered, still shaking my head, "I saw the shadow again, it was right there." I pointed to the now empty, darkened building just ahead of us.

Jase looked at me sympathetically for a moment before releasing his grip, "Are you sure? I mean, damn, you looked like you had just seen a ghost." He said grabbing my hand as he still didn't fully trust me.

I shook my head more forcefully, "No, it was defiantly real, I've seen it a few times, it's always here when we're hunting, watching us. I just wanted to kill it."

Jase laughed at my tone. I said the last part so gently, it made me smile too.

"Seriously, I just don't want anything bad to happen to me," I turned my eyes away form the building and turned to face Jase, I put my hand on his cheek, "or you." I said leaning forward to kiss him.

Jase smiled and returned the kiss. We stood in the middle of the quiet street at three-thirty a.m., kissing. It was nice actually.

When Jase reluctantly pulled away and broke the blissful kiss, he looked around the still street once more, most likely checking for my shadow.

"If you're so worried about the shadow harming us, maybe its best we head out." He finally said. I looked up at him gratefully, "Thank you." I said grinning.

He smiled back, "Okay, then lets pack up now and we'll head out for tomorrow."

Neither of us really had anything to pack and take with us but, we knew we didn't have time before sunrise to leave tonight. The sun would rise too soon, and after that, it's pretty bad.

Jase plopped down on the bed next to me and pulled me to him. I laughed and fell into him. He lay back on the bed; I crawled over to crouch on top of him. He smiled at me; I giggled and returned it with a grin. Jase began to rub my back; I leaned closer to him to kiss him tenderly on the lips.

Without warning Jase dragged me to him quickly and began kissing me eagerly. I laughed in between our passionate kisses.

"I love you," I heard him mutter as we rolled around on the bed.

"Hmm," I responded, as I lay on top of him and began another ambush of kisses on his flawless face.

My hands were in his shaggy, but sexy, light brown hair, messing it up and probably accidently clawing his skull. He made no attempt to stop me, though. I continued to kiss him and he responded by pulling me closer.

The next thing I knew both of us were laying, naked, on the bed, still making out like love—struck teenagers, which in a way, we were.

Finally, I sat up; bring the comforter with me to attempt to cover myself. Jase soon followed and sat next to me. My hair was slung over one shoulder in long burgundy curls, while his hair was ruffled and messed up into spikes all over his head. I laughed at his appearance.

Jase smiled and leaned closer to me, I could feel his breath, hot and moist on my forever-frozen back. He began rubbing my neck in the brief silence. I yawned, unneeded of course, and tilted my neck up out of habit. Jase was there quickly in the curve of my neck, kissing. I can't deny that it felt good, _really_ good.

Eventually, we had stopped, though, and I reluctantly pulled away from him and stood up. Jase remained on the bed staring at me. I was still holding the comforter wrapped around my body to cover myself. Jase fell backwards onto the bed, and continued to stare at me. He looked rather relaxed as he laid there, his hands crossed behind his head, _still_ staring at me.

"Forget it, Jase." I said reading his mind. His smile faltered for a moment before he sat back up and walked over next to me.

"Ok, ok," He said wrapping his arms around me again, "but remember, when all you're wearing is a sheet, I may be strong, but I'm not invincible, I break easily." He said into my ear. I had to laugh, but I remained strong, though my will-power was slowly dwindling.

"Let's get going," I said, yet again walking further from him. I grabbed my clothes from their various places around the room and walked over to the bathroom. I had to get my shirt before I entered though; it was slowly revolving around the room, on the ceiling fan. Jase laughed at me, when I jumped up to get it.

"Shut up," I called to him before snatching it down. He stifled another laugh as I strutted off to the bathroom.

When I was dressed and my hair was brushed and looked nearly perfect again, I walked over to my, still shirtless and very sexy, Jase.

I purred jokingly, "As nice as you're looking now, it's time to get dressed, buddy." I said throwing his shirt at his face. He caught it just before it would've smacked into him with catlike reflexes.

I turned away and bent down to get my shoes; they were my lovely green and blue high-tops, always dependable. They went well with my jeans, which were ripped at the knees, and my purple tank top.

When I turned to sit on the footrest to put my shoes on, I noticed Jase _still_staring at me dreamily.

I sighed in frustration, "Are you serious, get a job!" I said tossing my shoe at his head. This time Jase wasn't lucky enough to catch it. The shoe slammed into the side of his head and bounced off.

"Ow!" He cried as it struck him. I laughed, "That's what you get, now get up!" I said rising up my other shoe threateningly.

"Sorry, I was just, I was, and you know how…I just…" He stuttered as he rubbed his head in pain.

I stood up again and walked over to wear my belt was. I bent down, but when I felt eyes ogling me. I spun around to see Jase, leaning over the side of the bed to get a look at me.

I gasped and snapped up, "Are you kidding me!" I yelled at him. This tie I did throw my second shoe at him. It hit him again and knocked him off the bed.

"I'm sorry!" He yelled from the floor.

I stomped over to him and stood over him with my hand on my hips, "I love you, but seriously, stop it!" I said grabbing my shoe and shaking it in his face as I spoke. I reached over to get my other shoe off the bed and walked away from Jase.

I sat on the footrest again and began packing my other few clothes and stuffed them into my one small bag. I found my sexy black leather boots that went up to nearly my knees and thrust them in the bag.

_These could come in handy, _I thought to myself, I guess being a vampire does have some perks…


	7. Subdued Chapter 7

_Chapter 7_

Jase hadn't decided to leave as soon as possible and probably would have left that day had he not had a surprise for me.

I was sitting on the bed, watching the sunlight dance on the mirror in front of me, eagerly anticipating the bliss of night, the time in which we could rule.

Finally the sun set and I jumped up as soon as the reflected light was a deep blue, "Jase we can go!" I called to him.

"Hunt quickly," he said putting his arms around my waist. I looked over my shoulder at him confused, "Why?"

"Because I have a surprise to show you before sunrise." He said in my ear, it was pretty sexy. I smiled and nodded, "okay then."

Jase and I finished hunting quickly, we had our fill then Jase let the way to my surprise.

"OK, can you just tell me where, we're going?" I asked with a little laugh.

"Nope, because even if I did you wouldn't know where it is." He said grinning over at me. I groaned in mock disappointment, "Fine."

Jase and I came to a huge lake and he stopped. He said nothing only stared at the lake with a smile smile taking place on his lips.

"Is this where the surprise is?" I asked excitedly. Jase nodded, a mischeivious gleem in his eyes.

"Run!" He said charging into the water. I watched as Jase sliced through the water and then dove deeper. I debated for only a moment before running in after him. When I thought I was at the point Jase was when he dove in, I did the same. I held my breath, remembered I didn't need to, then simply dove in.

Jase was sitting on a rock underwater, with his arms crossed over his chest looking at me with mock annoyance.

I smiled and shrugged an apology. He got up and motioned for my to follow him. I did so. We swam next to each other in the dark water, me smiling at the idea and beauty around me in the underwater world. Jase held my hand to guide me along as we swam.

Finally Jase angled himself upward and thrust himself downward towards a rock.

I gasped it seems he would smash into it. The rock from where I stood, was huge and towering over me, it was shimmering slightly in the moonlight, we were closer to the surface now. I watched as Jase appeared to go staright through the rock.

Jase stuck a hand out of what must be an invisible crack and held it out to me. I reached up to grab it, as soon as I did Jase yanked me inside.

When I was up inside the opening, I brought my head up and looked for Jase. The rock has opened up into a cave.

I giggled "Woa, it's hollow." I looked around the cave. The water was only up to my shoulders now, but the cavern stretched up way about my hand, had there been a surface I would have been able to stand up with still more room on top of me.

Jase?" My voices echoes around the cave as I called to him.

"Over here!" I had to listen sharply to decided where the voice originated. I found him on the other side of the cave.

I waded over to him and he enveloped me in a hug, I leaned my head on his shoulder, "This is so cool," I said looking around the cave in awe.

"How'd you find this place?" I asked.

"On accident, I stayed out to late and needed shelter, I came to the closest place I could find, which was here. I was hoping I'd be safe underwater and I was right, but I found this place and stayed here. I've come her everytime I pass through the town. And I discovered something really cool last, actually you gave me the idea. But you have to wait 'till morning." He said with a wink.

Igave him a playful glare, "Fine, I'll wait, but uh, what do we do until then?" I said moving closer to jase as I spoke. He laughed and pulled me tighter.

I turned my body to his and kissed him. Jase kissed back deliciously, he rubbed my back and I wrapped my legs around as we floated on the water.

When Jase reluctantly pulled away, he crawled up to a decently big platform and helped me up. Now we were standing on the ledge, jase was still holdng my close and kissing my neck as I looked around the cave.

Finally I could resist him no longer, I came to him stronger. I kissed him passionately and allowed everything else to fade away. Jase and me only, nothing else.

"I love you," I mumbled as I kissed him.

Soon, I was ripping my shirt off, pulling it happily over my shoulders and laying on Jase. His shirt was already off. I leaned over him, still kissing, but wanting so much more.

His hands explored my stomach and back, and soon found my bra clasp, he quickly undid it and moved his search to my waist, he hands stayed there, firmly planted on my hips and bringing my closer. His hand soon migrated to the front of my jeans. I let him undo the them and let them fall to my knees, now that we were kneeling on the ledge.

I did the same and pulled off Jase's pants, I could already feel the bulge in them as I tore them off hungrily.

Soon I was laying on my back on the damp cave floor as Jase leaned over me, exploring my body. I continued to kiss him and pull him closer, egging him on.

I felt his hard abs and arms as he leaned over me, panting as sweating as we made love.

We stayed in the cave having a grand old time for most of the night. At the end of our session, I was still leaning into Jase and hugging him as we both laid in on the ledge in silence.

Finally he sat u , I followed still leaning into him. He glanced over at a small hole in the top of the cave, letting sunlight in and reflecting on the water. The cave was still pretty dark even with the one spot of sunlight.

"Hold on," Jase said jumping back into the water and running through it to the sunlight. He walked carefully around the sunlight patch and got behind it. When he was, he pulled something out of his backpack and slid it under the sunlight. He looked up at me, "Watch this," He said sliding the mirror under the sunlight.

The sunlight reflected off the mirror and danced around the cave, showing all the hidden mica and gems in the cave walls. Each one glow and sparkled in response to the sunlight, causing the cave to sparkle and glitter everywhere I looked. I smiled at I glanced around the sparkling cave, "Its so beautiful," I said grinning at the gorgeous cave.

Jase was next to me again, holding me as we watched the glittering mica luminate the walls.

"Best surprise ever," I said kissing Jase. He smiles and returned the kiss. He went in for another, more 'white-hot' kiss, but I held up a hand, "Later." I said still smiling.

"I love you," I said hugging him, Jase chuckled, "I know, I love you too,"

Lana

After another night of good eats, I dropped my third serving to the ground. I wiped the blood that was staining my lips with my sleeve and glanced around for jase. I lugged the body over to the other two and waited for Jase to add his to the pile.

_Thunk._ I turned to see another body crach on top of my three. Blood was seeping from his neck.

I looked up to see jase climbing down the wall behind me. He grabbed on to a light that was luminating the step before a door where the bodies laid in front of and glanced down at me and kissed me. It was like the Spiderman/ Maryjane scene.

Jase hopped down and looked at our leftovers, "woa, three bodies Lana? That's a bit much. Even I usually only take two tops." He said

I punched him playfully in the arm. He smiled, "What? I'm just saying!" He said laughing.

"Shut up, I was starving," I said licking blood from my fringer tips.

"Well I hope your full now because we gotta go." He said glancing uneasily at the sky.

I nodded, "But, what about them?" I asked implying the bodies. Jase shrugged, "I'm to lazy for clean up, we're cutting it close as is. Let's go." He said jerking his thumb over his shoulder.

Back at our 'home' all the blood I had sucked down began to get to me.

"ugh, maybe the third one was a mistake." I said rubbing my stomach as I sat on the bed.

Jase laughed, "Told ya,"

I moaned as my stomach churned with too much blood I put my hand over my mouth as I felt some of it coming back up.

"Bathroom!" I said running past Jase. "Funny, I didn't think we could puke." I heard him say.

"Neither did I," I called as I reached the toilet bowl.

In the bathroom I vomited up, my entire dinner. I stayed for a while, leaning my head on the porcelin bowl and another wave of nausea hit me.

Wisely, Jase stayed away. I didn't want him in here while I wsa puking my brains out. I leaned over the seat as I felt more blood coming back up. I renched more up and laid on the floor.

Then I felt a queer movement. It was in my stomach. It felt like a tickle at first. Then it came again, this time it was like a punch. I gasped and threw up again.

I was panting when it was over. It was unneeded, but a reaction nonetheless.

A flash of terror flew through me as an idea of what the pain might be hit me.

_No_, I thought, _impossible, Jase said so himself._

But I couldn't shake the idea. I gently sat back up, putting my back against the toilet for supprt.

I gingerly pulled up my shirt to see my stomach. The proof was there, a slight bulge, almost unnoticeable until the movement poked up on my horror as two separate bumps actually made up of four tiny ridges moving together around my belly.

I gasped again and covered my mouth. I put my hand over my bulge. I could feel movement inside. The ridges lifted against my skin again and I watched them move in little circles.

I tipped my head back. A few tears trickled don my face. I didn't know whether to be depressed or terrified or ecstatic.

I was pregnant.


	8. Subdued Chapter 8

_Chapter 8_

I waited another good twenty minutes before exiting the bathroom. I took the time to compose myself.

Finally, with shaking hands, I slowly, hesitantly opened the door knob and walked out.

Jase was in the living room on the couch watching TV, he glanced over to me as I entered.

My sweatshirt was unzipped and hanging at my sides. I had the sleeves rolled up to the elbows and one hand was corssed over to chest and grabbed the opposite elbow. My t-shirt was covering my torso though, to hid the evidence for the moment.

When Jase saw my face his good humored look changed to one of concern. "Lana, what's wrong?" I inhaled an unsteady breath but said nothing. More tears dripped doen my face.

"Lana?" he asked again. I shook my head and stared straight ahead. "Lan, are you sick or semothing?" He didn't know what to think.

I glanced at him. His hands braces my shoulders and he continued to frown down at me with concern.

I took another deep breath before slowly, with trembling hands lifting up my shirt.

Jase ddin't react at first. Only stared at my barely noticeable bulge. Then the ridges came up and moved around.

Jase's eyes widened as he watched the pairs of four ridges roatae around my belly.

"Oh, my God." He said under his breath.

"I'm pregnant." I told him with a slight smile.

Jase nodded numbly. Not knowing what to do. I hoped I hid it, but I felt the same way only worse.

Jase

After I got over the initial shock of Lana being pregnant, I was actually a little happy.

We were sitting on the bed now, both of us sitting cross-legged as we watched Lana's stomach.

The movements appeared every few minutes and moved in little circles around her belly.

"I think they're the hands," she whispered, "those are the knuckles," She pointed to the four ridges.

We stared at the hands for a few moments longer before Lana sighed.

I dragged my eyes away from her belly and brought them to her face.

"What do we do?" Lana said addressing the important question.

I shook my head, "I don't know. Wait? Like I said before, I didn't even know this was possible." I said running my hand through my hair.

"We don't know anything about it. How long it'll take to grow. What it need. What it'll cause me to do." She said glumly, but I could hera some fear in her voice.

"Let's assume it's like a normal baby. And it'll grow like one, and treat you the way a human child would treat its mother." I said with a nod.

"But it's not human," Lana pointed out the obvious.

"I know, but what else can we do?" I ask, "I mean we need to leave soon, but your in no condition to move so we have to wait."

"For up to nine months, Jase? That's an awful long time. We'd kill thousand sin that time and attract more attention, something we don't need." Lana said impatiently.

"We'll think of something." I said running my hand nervously through my hair again.

"Let's hope so," Lana mumbled.

I gazed over at her. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was looking aimlessly around the room, with a dull fear in her eyes.

"Me, too." I muttered to myself, "Me, too."

"I have some good news and some bad news, which do you want to hear first?' Lana said putting her hand on hre hips.

"Good," I said staring at her nervously.

Lana pulled up her shirt to show me her belly. It had nearly doubled in size from yesterday.

"We won't be here for nine months." She sias putting a hand n her belly.

I looked wearily at her and swallowed, "Good, at least we know know it has an accelerated growth rate. That might help us determine more aspecta about it." I looked at her before asking, "Whats the bad news?"

"The baby, like you sai, is obviously developing fast so we could potentially be parents in a week or a month, either way, its probably going to be soon." She said sitting on he bed.

"Okay," I said. I put my head in my hands in leaned forward. _What are we going to do?_ I thought, _We know absolutely nothing about this baby._

"Jase I'm not worried," She said putting her hand on my shoulder and giving it a squeeze, "I've kind of gotten used to the idea of being a mother. It's only getting caught I'm worried about."

I lifted my head and nodded, "That's what I'm worried about, too." I said, "Staying and hunting can being more attention and get us caught faster."

Ther was a brief silence, Lana didn't move, "That's not all your worried about." It wasn't a question, but a statement..

I nodded, "No it's not."

"Tell me," She said leaning over the couch to hug me.

"I don't want it to hurt you. Seeing the fingers last night kind of creeped me out and made me think the baby might be more dangerous than we think." I confessed.

"To be honest, it freaked me out to. But I'm wasn't worried about the baby hurting me, I'm not now either. I was just shocked at the realization that the impossible was happening.

"I'll be fine," She rubbed my shoulders, "Trust me."

Lana

As sunset came and night drew closer we both began to get hungry. I was ravenous because I had thrown up all my food on the night before. I waited impatiently for sunset to come so that we could hunt.

I was getting up to put my sweatshirt on when Jase stopped me, "You're not leaving," He said firmly.

"What? Why? I have to eat Jase." I said shoving past him. "I know and ill bring you blood," he said.

I turned back to face him, "What do you mean?" I asked him

"Ill hunt for myself then grab some takeout for you." He said with a wink, "I don't want anything to happen while we're hunting, this'll be safer," He assured me.

I reluctantly nodded and allowed him to leave with out me. While he was gone I occupied myself with the baby. I watched it move and wished desperately that I knew more about it.

I also wondered what it might be; a girl or a boy. I wanted a girl, but as long as my baby was safe I'd take it happily. What about names? I thought to myself, No, I'd better wait for Jase for that.

Jase returned an hour and a half later. He brought with him a trembling boy. The boy's hair was tussled and he was bruised badly and his lip was bleeding. He was panting and looking like he was going to cry. The boy was maybe sixteen or seventeen and shivering like crazy.

I strutted over to him and put one arm around him. He looked up at me with tears in his eyes, "What are you?" He asked quietly.

I removed my arms and walked around to the front of him, "Shh…" I said as I walked around him. I frowned and put my hands on his cheeks.

"I'm so sorry," y frip got firmer. The boy's eyes widened. I effectively snapped his neck and held his limp body up. I bent down and began drinking his sweet blood.

I finished quickly and dropped his body to the floor.

"Full?" Jase asked as he entered from the kitchen.

"Sorta, I could go for another, but I'll be fine 'till tomorrow." I said wiping my clood from my mouth.

Jase came over and hugged me, " I can get you another," he said kissing my cheek. I shook my head, "it's fine. We have more important business anyway," I said walking away.

"We do?" Jase asked in a puzzled tone.

I turned to face him and nodded, "Yes." I spun around, away from him, and picked out a black cami from my bureau drawr. I took off my t-shirt and slid into the cami. It was tight around the middle, but it fit.

'would you mind my asking what that business may be?" jase asked crossing his arms and leaning against the bureau.

"Names." I said tossing my other shirt in and closing the drawr.

"Names?"

"yes, Jase," I said a little annoyed, but still enjoying playing with him, "We'll be parents soon enough and our baby needs a name," I said

"Oh," Jase said finally getting is.

"So any ideas?" I ask facing him.

"For a boy or a girl?" he asked

"Either." I reply.

"I like Jack for a boy." Jase says after a moment of thought.

I plop down on the sofa across from where he stood leaning against the bureau, "Jack," I said testing the name, "it's cute, but what about Devon?" I ask.

Jase made a face of disgust, "NO way, I'm not naming my soon Devon."

"Why?'

'" I just don't like it. How about Justin or tyler?" He throws out the two names with anticipation.

I thought for a minutes, 'I like Tyler, I'm not to crazy about Justin."

Jase nodded, "So Tyler for a boy, what about for a girl?" Jase asks.

"I've always liked Annie, simple but cute," I volunteer.

Jase ponders the name, "Yea it's okay. How about Ella?"

I smile, "I like Ella."

"You know we do have more time to think of names." Jase says suddenly.

I grimace as a wave of pain flows over me, "Nope we don't have that much time," I say with a pained expression.

"What's wrong?" Jase asks in a worried voice.

"I think it's a growth spurt," We watched in awe as the skin on my abdomen stretched and tensed to give the baby more room to grow.

I stood up and walked to the bathroom, Jase followed. I stared at my reflection in the full body mirror. Y stomach was protruding and clearly visable. I looked about the equivalent of a six month pregnant human.

"A very fast growth cycle," Jase observed.

"we don't have a lot of time then," I say, he hols his hands up in surrender.

We walk back to the bedroom and sit on the bed together.

I try to find a comfortable position and eventually settle on sitting cross-legged with my womb in between them.

"Do you have a letter for names you want to stick to?" Jase asks falling back to our previous subject.

I thought for a second, 'a vowel, preferably 'E' or 'A'." We both grew quiet as we debated over names. "How about Eva or Emily?" Jase suggests.

I shake me head, "no those are to plain."

"Allison or Alexis?" he said giving me two more to consider.

"Maybe Alexis," I say after thinking about it. We both go silent again. After a few more minutes of thinking I get a name I like. "What about Everly?" I ask.

Jase looks up with a small smile, "It's cute and unique. I like Everly." I begin to rub my belly gently, 'Everly," I whisper."Okay, we have our names; Ty for a boy, Everly for a girl." Jase says nodding.

He looks over at me and watched me rub my stomach.

"Do you want a boy or girl?" I ask him.

"Either, as long as you and the baby are healthy and happy." Jase says sitting on the bed and scooting closer to me.

He puts his hands on my shoulder and sits behind me. We stay like that for a few moments watching the movement in my belly. Then he gingerly moves in front of me. And, very gently, Jase sticks his hand out and puts it on my belly.

I smile ecstatically as the baby immediatly responded to its daddy's touch.

"Do you feel it?" I ask as the baby continued to gently thrash and kcik inside me. Jase nodded. Smiling. He would be a great daddy.

"Everly or Ty," Jase says and smiled at me, "Perfect."

Three days later I was as big as a full term mother. The baby was moving constantly and at times it is almost painful.

Jase continues to bring me one or two humansa night so I fed well.

As I had never intended to get pregnant, I had no maternity clothing. My stomach bulged out of most of my outfits. Some stopped at my belly button and let my belly stay exposed below that.

I decided to improvise for clothing. I wore a black cami that barely covered my belly button and some spare blue pajama pants with clouds on them. Then I took the white sheet from our bed and using pins and clips, fashioned it as a dress. It looked pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Now I laying on the bed with my makeshift dress, waiting for Jase. I wasn't especially hungry tonight so I was glad to see him enter with only one victim in tow.

The victim was a young woman tonight. She was most likely in her early to mid twenties with long staright black hair, it was tussled and scraggly from Jase's kidnapping now though.

Jase forced her to her knees then left her with me.

I watched her stare fearfully at me for a moment before walking to her.

Her sharp blue eyes watched my every more intently as I got closer to her. My 'dress' trailed behind me as I moved.

The young woman was trembling uncontrollably and it got worse as I approached.

I stopped at her said, "Hello, my name is Lana, what's yours, my dear?" I asked her.

Tiffany," She managed to choke out in a weak voice.

'Well Tiffany, I hate to be the one to tell you," I stopped my pacing and faced her with a grim expression on my face, "but this will be your last night on earth."

Tiffany succumbed to the tears that had been threatening her. She bowed her head and sobbed, quietly begging me for her life.

I was walking round her again, keeping on hand on her shoulder at all times.

"Please Tiffany, I take no pleasure in this. But you see, I must do this." I took my hand off her shoulder and unfastened a few pins on my dress, the sheet fell to the floor.

"Do you see this?' I said placing my hand over my belly and leaning very close to her face. Tiffany refused to look at me and kept her gaze ahead. I glowered and forced her head to look at me. She cried out when I grabbed and twisted her head.

"My baby needs to be fed." Tiffany's eyes widened as the baby's hands caused ridges in my skin. She screamed.

I grabbed her by the neck, she had a moment to look at me with horror one last time before, like last time, I snapped her neck. Tiffany's scream stopped apbruptly and she slumped in my arms.

I quickly fes and disposed of her body. When I finished my stomach was a little woozy again.

Jase has reentered the room and came to sit next to me on the bed, where I was now laying. I closed my eyes and squeezed his hands s waves of pain and nausea hit me.

I had a feeling that before the night was up, we would be parents."


	9. Subdued Chapter 9

_Chapter 9_

Jase

Lana was wrong about becoming parents that night. In fact, she held on for two more nights.

She stayed confined to the bed . Only talking to me and rubbing her belly as the brief glimpses of pain came and went.

I didn't feed for two days, I knew I could hold on for a few more so I kept my attention focused on Lana.

At eightthirty-three, on Thursday May 25th, Lana finally went into labor.

She had been laying silently in bed when a sharp roll of pain sliced through her abdomen.

"Jase!" She yelled and reached blindly for my hands. She was taking deep, steady breaths and one hand was glued to her belly while the other gripped my hand with excessive force.

Lana screamed as I watched the baby move and crawl underneath her skin. I could see it tossing and turning inside her. She gasped as a contraction hit her.

Her hadn tightened around mine and she closed her eyes tighter as she pushed.

All att once I realized; I had no idea how to deliver this baby or how to coatch Lana.

Shit.

"Jase!" She shouted again, "Just hold my hand and stay with me." She ordered, but there was also a hint of pleading in her voice.

I nodded, "I'm right here. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." I said stroking her hand as she squeezed mine tighter.

Her grip was like an iron cast as another strong contraction came. She yelled out and pushed again.

Lana had only the sheet she'd been using as a dress over her legs. I didn't know if I should check to see how she was doing so I could help her, but I knew I really didn't want to.

'Jason!" Lana yelled again as she pushed harder.

I could tell from the tiniest bit of relief on her face that she was close. I pulled up the sheet a little and held out my arms for the baby. (I'd only known what to do because of a movie I'd seen.)

I had to rip my hand from hers in order to prepare to catch the baby. As soon as I'd done so Lana moaned for me.

"Right here Lana, you're almost thter. One more big push." I instructed . Lana took a deep breath before pushing harder.

I felt a slippery mass slip into my hands then the wailing of a baby. Lana opened her eyes ands spread her arms for the baby.

I looked down at my baby. A perfect baby girl. Everly. I smiled at her then handed her off to her mother.

Lana grasper Everly and held her close.

"Shh…" She soothed the crying infant and kissed her forehead. Tears of joy slowly slid down Lana's cheeks as she grinned at the baby.

'Shh, Everly, shh…" At the sound of her name the baby paused in her crying and opened her large black eyes and looked curiously at Lana.

I sat next to Lana, smiling proudly and putting my finger in Everly's tiny hand.

Everly instantly grabbed at and smiled. Hse laughed when she got hold of it.

Lana laughed at the sound and cooed to Everly.

We sat there smiling at newborn Everly as she explored over faces and whined at the new environment she'd been thrust into.

'Congratulations, Jase, you're a father." Lana said putting Everly gently into my arms.

I'd never been so happy as I was right then. "Hi, Everly," I said and smiled at her, "I'm your daddy."

Lana

Seeing Jase hold Everly was one of my best experiences. He looked exactly as a father should holding his laughed and watched him curiously as he moved with her.

Over the next few days we fell into a rythem.

We played and took care of Everly during the day and at night Jase left to hunt for us.

Everly was starving right after her birth and Jase had to go out quickly just before dawn to get her a meal.

I but the human and she guzzled down the blood, which I'd put into a bottle for her.

Jase had had to steal those, along with Everly's blankets, crib and clothing. He wasn't very careful about it either. He crashed through a store window at night when it closed, grabbed what he needed and left.

It helped though, now Everly was comfortable and happy. She was my joy in life. I loved her to no end and I enjoy just sitting and cradling her in my arms.

Jase also loved to hold and cuddle Everly. He spent every minute he could with her. Between us, Everly was almost always being held or loved in some way.

Everly was only a week old, but evidence of her excellerated grow was beginning to become evident. She still looked like an infant but she seemed, if anything, more mature. She hardly ever cried and had already spoken her first word, to my joy it was 'momma'.

At three weeks old, Everly had spoken a few more words such as, 'daddy', 'hungry', and 'up'. She was also able to walk a few steps.

Seeing her walk those first few steps was astonishing, I was exteremely proud of her but it also broke my heart to see how fast she was growing up.

"She's growing months in weeks, as she gets older, we may see her growing years in weeks. She'll grow up fast, but live forever." Jase had told me one night after I had confided the fear of Everly's fast growth pace.

Although we were both preoccupied with Everly and her needs, the knowledge that we had to move soon stayed with us in the backs of our minds.

When Everly was only five months and a half old, but physically looked to be about three, jase decided it might be okay for us to move with her.

I packed up what I could of Everly's things and prepared to leave soon. She understood basically what was going on. She could form her own basic sentences now and asked why we had to leave home many times.

"Mommy, why are we leaving?" Everly asks for about the hundredth time that day.

"Everly, I told you, we can't live here forever," I said tossing one of her blankets into my backpack.

'Why?" She asked, handing me her other blanket.

I sighed and turned to face her. I knelt down so I was at her height, "Everly, if we stay here to long, the humans might get mad and try to hurt us. Daddy and I can't let that happen can we?" I asked putting my finger on her nose.

She laughed and swatted my finger away, "No, so we're gonna go live somewhere else now?" She asked trying to help me back as much of her things as possible.

"For a little while, yes," I said trying to stuff her doll into my bag.

"Ok," She said skipping away. I smiled, Everly was too cute.

Jase returned from hunting a few moments later. He had two unconscious humans, one slung over each shoulder.

'"twp? Everly and I usually just share," I say helping him get the meals off of him.

"Well, I thought it was time she learned to hunt," He said dropping the other human to the floor. He groaned when he made contact and his eyes fluttered open.

"Jase, she's barely five months old," I whispered, as Everly came to eye the guests. She was walking around them curiously, sucking her thumb and holding the doll she snuck out of my bag.

The two humans were awake now, their attention was on Everly, who looked far less dangerous than Jase or myself.

She was tiny and her long, thin aburn hair fell in little ringlets to her shoulders. Her big black eyes had yet to take the crimson color of mine or Jase's. I thought she may get lucky enough to get y original color, rather than the red from being a vampire.

"Hi," She said to the people.

"Hello," The one who Jase dropped on the ground said to her in a shaky voice.

"What are you doing here?" She asked turning her head to the side and looking at him suspiciously.

"I wish I knew," He shrugged and offered her a weak smile.

Everly turned to me, "Mommy, why are they here?" I just stared at her in shock, I didn't know how to tell her.

"Everly, go see Mommy," Jase said, glaring at the two victims on the floor. Everly got out of the way of hre angry father and came over to me and hugged my leg.

I turned her attention away form the guys on the floor and made her look at me. I saw Jase raise a fist over Everly's head.

"Let's go in the kitchen," I said practically dragging Everly out.

I hear the span as Jase punched the man's head, the other, lucky for him, was still unconscious.

"Mommy, why did Daddy bring them here?" She demanded with her small fists pressed to her not-yet-formed hips.

I hated to see her talk and try to make a connection with them and ow expect me to tell her the truth. I didn't want to hurt her.

"Evy, what do we drink?" I asked softly.

"Blood." She automatically answered.

"yes, very good. Well, humans have blood in them. So if we need it to drink we have to…."I trailed off trying to the ink of a word, "borrow it from them sometimes."

Everly thought for a moment, "Well, that's nice of them. But I usually don't give the blood back after I drink it." She said.

Damn. Why did she have to be so smart?

"Well, maybe we take it instead of borrow it," I corrected.

Everly's eyes widened, "The man looked scared. Why is he scared if we need the blood for food? Why can't they share?" She asked a question in her eyes.

I bit my lip in frustration. Everly wasn't making this easy.

"Everly, sometimes," I sighed and thought of how to phrase it, "The humans need the blood to live too, sweetie. But so do we, and I think the man is worried aboutus taking it." I said trying to form my thoughts into words without confusing her.

Her lip trembled, "I don't want to hurt anybody," She whispered no the verge of tears.

I hugged her, "I know sweetie, but we need blood to live, so sometimes we have to hurt them," All the memories of people I'd killed and toyed with came back in a ruch. Everly made all my tricks and cruel jokes seem shameful and terrible, despite the fact that I used to enjoy the games.

She began to cry softly, "It's mean. I can eat something else, that'll b better for everyone." She said nodding to herself.

God, I hated this. How do I explain it to her so she understands? I ask myself.

"Everly, you have to drink blood. It's how we live. I don't want to make you do anything you don't want t, but you really need to do this," I said gently.

She glared at me, my baby girl actually glared at me. "No, I don't want to and don't need to, I'll find something else." She said stubbornly crossing her arms.

"Everly, you need blood, we all do, you, me, daddy. We need it to live." I said more firmly.

"No,"

"Everly!" I said watched her stand in her angry little way. Her arms we're still crossed over her chest and she was staring at me defiantly.

Jase came in and looked from Everly to me, "What's going on here?" He asked still watching us glare at each other. Well, Everly glare at me, I was staring at her sadly.

"Everly doesn't want to drink blood because sh doesn't want to hurt humans," I said keeping my eyes on her.

Jase laughed once, Everly turned on him the second he did, her hair wiped around her face as she aimed her glare at him. Jase stopped laughing immeadiatly and watched Everly curiously, "It's not funny!" She cried angrily, "It's mean to hurt people, and I don't want to."

Jase looked at me, shock apparent. "Everly we need blood to live," he tried. She only shook her head and glared at us both.

"I won't do it. You can't make me! I'll drink other blood if I have to," She said thinking out loud.

"Like what?" I asked trying to stay calm. I loved Everly but I needed her to listen to me, if she refused to drink blood who knows what would happen to her.

She looked up and thought about it, "Animal blood." She said.

"You'll hurt animals but not humans?" I asked her gingerly.

"It's different, I'll take blood from mean animals, like bears and mosters," She said firmly, no hesitation in her answer.

I looked to Jse for a moment, saw his expression of disbelief and turned back to Everly.

"Fine." I said.

"What?" Jase asked, even more shocked at my answer than Everly's proposal.

Everly smiled a bit. "If you think you will be okay living on animal blood after only having human blood for your whole life, fine." I said, I didn't mean it as a a challenge, if Everly openly refused human blood but would settle for animal blood, I could compromise.

She turned to Jase, "Daddy, will you let the humans in there go?" She said pointing to the living room. Jase subtly looked at me over Everly.

I knew he had killed them, and we still needed to eat. I got an idea and nodded to Jase, he turned to her. "Okay, but this means you'll have to come hunting tonight." He said warningly.

She nodded, "Yes, but hunting for animals, not humans," She said. Jase nodded and went to dispose of the humans.

"If you're hungry…" I whispered in his ear as he left. He nodded once and left me with Everly as he fed.

"Okay, Everly, we are going to go to the forest and get you some animal to eat." I said grabbing her hand.

"can I drink a bear's blood?" She asked. I stopped and looked down at her, one eyebrow raises, "I don't think so, you'll start with something small," I said shaking my head.

She shrugged, "Okay."

Jase reentered the kitchen moments later and nodded to me. "OK, let's go," I said ushering Everly out the door.

In the forest Everly stayed close to me, even being a vampire, she was afraid of the dark.

We were all deathly quiet as we moved. I heard a twig snapped and spun to see a mountain lion in the distant darkness.

Everly would never be able to take it on, Jase or I would have to take it down for her.

I motioned to the animal and Jase nodded. Everly looked up at me, with those bid oil black eyes. I put a finger to my lips. She nodded and stayed silent.

Jase charged forward and slammed into the mountain lion. The lion roared in surprise and tried to bit Jase.

Jase was tough, but seeing hi m battle it out with a possibly hungry mountain lion was scary.

Jase wrestly the animal and somehow got it in a chokehold. I turned Everly away as Jase snapped its neck. The beast moaned and slumped to the ground. Jase was sitting on top of it, he jumped off and yelled to us, "C'mon! It's okay now."

Everly and I jogged over to him. Jase bent down close to the lion's neck and looked at Everly.

'C'mere." He said holding out a hand. Everly slowly came forward to take it. She knelt down next to Jase and watched closely as he explained what to do.

"Right her," he said pushing aside some fur, "You have to use your fangs to bite down really hard. Then you'll taste the blood and you can just suck the bite marks and you'll get all the blood you need."

Everly nodded and got closer to the beast. She did as Jase instructed and bit into the lion.

Jase stood next to me, "Go hunt," he whispered to me. I looked at him thankfully. I kissed him and ran off to find a meal.

By the time I had found someone and fed, it was close to sunrise, knowing Jase had already taken Everly back to our home, I headed that way.

Everly eyes me suspiciously as I entered, "Where were you mommy' She asked sweetly.

" Looking for more lion for you, but I couldn't find any. Good thing Daddy took you back." I said smiling easily.

Everly nodded and smiled back, "Yea it was fun." She made a face then looked back to me, "Do I have to kill a monster as big as that next time?" She asked.

Yeah, right. The lion was like ten times bigger then Everly. I smiled and laughed at the thought of me _ever_ letting Everly near something like that, "No, honey, you don't. Daddy and I will take care of it for you." I said winking.

As if one cue, Jase came in with his bag. "Ok, tonight I'm going to scout ahead to make sure the place I thought of going, is still safe and empty." He said dropping his bag next to mine.

I nodded, "Okay, so what? We'll see yu tomorrow then and we go back then? I mean we don't have phones so you come back and then we all go together?' I asked my arms crossed over my chest casualy as I spoke.

"That's the plan."

Later that night, right after sunset, Jase kissed Everly goodbye, made out with me once, then left to scout ahead.

I didn't like having him be gone for so long, but I knew we'd be fine.

I took Everly hunting and put her in bed. As strange as it was, Everly still slept even though she was a vampire. But it worked in my favor tonight. When I saw sure she was asleep in her room off of the kitchen in the back of the house, I left to go hunting. I was starving tonight.

I opened the door and slipped out quiety so not to wake Everly. I ran down to the third floor landing and started down the edge of the railing.

I thought for a moment then shrugged. I would land fine anyway, I thought. I got up on the railing and prepare to jump.

I was just about to leap off when something slammed into my back, and made me lose my balance.

I screamed in shock as I toppled three stories to the hard pavement below.

My scream echoed in the narrow alley between out building and the one next to it. I couldn't help but notice before I hit the ground, that my scream resembled those of the many people I'd killed in this very spot.

I woke up from my unconscious state hors later by my guessing. At first I wasn't sure if I really fell. But when I sat up athe explosion of pain in my head assued me that I had.

I moaned and choked back tear of pain. I brought my hand to the back of my head, when I brought it back, it was sticky with my blood.

_Your blood?_ My conscious chimed in, _It's not yours but a mixture of all those you've stolen from_, the voice reminded me of Everly

Everly. My head spun as I checked my surroundings. I was still in out home, I wanted to check on Everly.

Who had brought me back? Jase? I wondered.

"Jase?" I called weakly. No answer. "Jase?" I called again, louder. Still no reply.

Another wave of pain crashed into my head I began to cry softly.

"Jase?" I moaned still no response from him.

"Jase isn't here, Lana?" A deep voice answered instead.I spun around to see who the sorce of the voice was.

No one was there. I looked around but could see no one. I had improved vison, being a vampire, but my constant headache form the crash made it slightly worse. I turned towards the kitchen to see if the mysterious person was hiding inside. I could see no one, even with the light on.

Suddenly something heavy smashed into the back of my head. I fell forward form the force.

Although it wouldn't kill me, it still hurt like hell. I moaned and more tears fell down my face. "Who the hell are you?" I screamed to the invisible person. "Why are you doing this?" I hissed to him.

"Because you deserve it." Another harsh blow to the side of my head.

I screamed in agony and anger, "Show yourself, you coward!"

The person grabbed a wad of my hair and yanked me up. I yelled out, but he didn't let go.

"What are you?" he asked with true wonder in his voice.

I braced myself and turned away as far as I could. The man was still holding my hair in his fist.

He chuckled at my 'bravery', "Are you a vampire, Lana?"

I glared at him. I could see his out line and his basic form. The man was tall and, by the looks of things, strong. He was wearing jeans and a black t-shirt and a ski mask to hid his identity. I may be a murderer but I don't think it was up to him to decide my punishment.

"How do you know my name?" I finally asked after examining him.

"Answer my question first, Lana." He said smiling at the fury in my voice. "Yes, I'm a vampire." I said coldly. The man nodded.

"How do you know my name?" I asked again.

"You know my name, too, Lana." He said.

I only looked at himm in confusion. He sighed and removed his ski mask to let me see his face. He brought it closer to mine so I could get a clear look. My eyes widened.

_Dave._


	10. Subdued Chapter 10

_Chapter 10_

* I* *

Jase

I dropped the young girl on te ground and left her body in the alley.I had found the place I'd been planning on bring Lana and Everly to, now I could hunt.

The place was an abandoned hotel not far from where I stood. The hotel sat in a deserted part of town, so no suspicion woul be aroused. We would have to travel a bit for hunting, but with Everly's eating habit's we'd have to anyway.

I directed my attention towards the sky. I couldn't see any signs of sunrise yet. To be safe I checked my watch. Four-thirty a.m., might as well head back.

I darted through the streets to our new temporary home. I dropped my backpack inside by the dor and peered around.

It was in excellent condition. The only reason it had been abandoned was a fire a few years back. It only affected a few floors, but the management decided renovation wasn't worth the revenue.

The room consisted of a small kitchen we would never use, two bathroom, also unusable, a master bedroom, a smaller bedroom behind the second bathroom, and a living room in the center of it all.

I grabbed the remote from the table next to the sofa and clicked the power button. Miraculously the television turned on and a drama popped up onto the screen. Amazing the place had power at all.

I grinned, "Sweet now we have something to do in spare time." I said to myself.

I relaxed on the couch and began channel surfing. There wasn't much on before five in the morning besides paid programming and local shit.

I decided to get ready for sunrise. I grabbed some two by fours I"d picked up earlier and began boarding up the few windows in the rooms. I finished just as the sun started to rise. I was in luck though, for in the distance I could see thick clouds rooling in, hopefully the absence of the sun would make my sloppy boarding of the windows less important, at least for today.

I sighed, hopefully Lana was having more fun than I was.

Lana

Dave lat go of my hair and let me hit the wooden floor. He then grabbed my wrists and began to tightly bind them.

"Dave! You know me! I'm friends with you daughter, Cat! Why are you doing this?" I asked desperately as he dragged me across the room. He tensed when I mentioned Cat's name but otherwise ignored me.

I hated bringing up Cat. It was terrible to think what her death must have done to poor Dave, she was all he had.

Dace yanked me up and tied my wrists with more rope. Then he madd a little noose at the end of the rope binding me and looped another long strand of rope through that and attached it to the ceiling fan. I was hanging in midair staring at Dave's bruised face. He was glaring at me, his fists kept clenching and unclenching at his sides. I saw flickers of sadness flash on his face before the deep hatred returned.

"Why?" He didn't phrase it like a question, he was referring back to my previous question.

"Because you murdered my Cat!" He yelled punching me hard in the jaw. I gasped and my head snapped back. My lip began to bleed the mixture of blood from my victim's, I hated the feeling.

How could Dave know I killed Cat?" I wondered. I opened my mouth but said nothing, I only shook my head in confusion.

Dave nodded, still fuming, "How do I know, Lans?" he asked and reached into his pocket. He pulled out two bracelets, Cat's and ine, the one I'd give to her on the night of her death. I looked down to his my sudden tears.

'Are you crying?" Dave asked in disgust, "Imagine how I felt,you bitch!" he smacked my again. I bit down on my lip to hold back a new flood of tears that threatened to break out. I wasn't crying fro the pain, that I barely felt, it was more the thought of what I'd done to Dave, and Cat.

"Don't worry, Lana, you won't have much to cry about soon," He promised.

I had no doubt he intended to keep it.

Jase

I roamed about my new house for the first few hours. I explored the rooms and imagined how they'd be once Lana and Everly arrived.

I turned to the window, for the millionth time as a sudden crash of thunder sounded overhead. I took a risk and ripped down the boards I'd put up earlier. It was pouring outside. Lightening brightened the sky, and thunder crashed soon after.

I groaned and stepped away from the window. I usually liked listening to thunderstorms but for some reason the mere thought of watching one annoyed me. I guessed I missed Lana and Everly.

I wished I was holding Lana and I was dying (sorry about the pun) to see my baby girl, Everly.

The storm raged on outside. The thick clouds outsides made the world dark and dreary.

An idea suddenly popped into my head. It was crazy. Absolutly crazy and insane and stupid. But, it could work.

I glanced outside again. Could it work? It is really worth the risk to find out?

I argued with myself for a moment before grabbing my sweatshirt and jogging downstairs. At the lobby dors I stopped and watched the rain splattering to the ground. Very cautiously, I pushed open the glass door. The sound of rain smacking the ground increased and it made everything more ominious.

I hesitated at the door, wondering for the second time if I should go through with this. I closed my eyes and took my first step forward. I was outside. I braced myself for searing pain. Nothing happened. I opened my eyes and took three more steps outward, I was completely outside in the rain now. I grinned when, again, nothing happened. I was outside, during the day!

I laughed, "Hell yeah!" I cried out cheerfully. With a new confidence I ran through the streets, happily allowing the rain to hit my face. I stopped after a small journey and lifted my face. I pulled down my hood and felt the rain hit my face. Another bolt of lightening shot across the dark sky and only seconds later, a loud crash of thunder. I pulled my hood back up and began running again.

Wouldn't Lana be surprised to see me in daylight?

Lana

Dave's words echoed in my head. _Don't worry, Lana, you won't have much to cry about soon._

What did he plan on doing? He had thrown my to the floor where I now lay after he was done interrogating me. My ankles and wrists remained tied.

He was walking around the living room, tearing down the planks from the windows to block the sun. I cringed away as a feeble attempt to shield myself as he tore more down. Lucky for me, it was raining out.

"Shit." He muttered when he saw the sky. He checked his watch and then nodded. It was then he noticed me watching him from the ground, "Don't worry Lana, it's still early. If the weather is correct, the sun will shine soon enough."

Had a had one, my heart would've sunk. He wanted to burn me. A tear slid down my cheek, not for self pity but at the thought of leaving Everly behind.

I'd been watching Dave to make sure he didn't get near her room. SO far he hadn't. It also helped that she was still asleep, even with my screaming, crying and Dave's cruel beatings.

Please don't come out, Everly. I silently prayed. You're the only thing worth going through this torture.

Terrible as it was, Dave was right. As the hours passed, the storm cleared and the rain lessened to a drizzle. A few clouds remained in the sky, but they too were drifting away.

I'd come to terms with what Dave was going to do to me. I could live with his killing me. Oh, that was a bad pun, I realized and laughed humorlessly at my dark joke. All I wanted was for Everly to be spared. I feared she'd wake soon and become a victim to Dave. Dave left me on the floor crying and silently praying. He was in the kitchen doing who knows what.

I heard a door squeak. I turned my head to see Everly standing half way out of her door. My worst fear. I mouthed to her, "Go! Get back inside!"

She looked at me with a confused expression, "Why?' she whispered back.

Tears slid down my face. Damn, Everly! Listen to me and go backto your room. "There's a bad man here," I whispered as quietly as possible.

Her eyes widened with fear and she started slid back inside. She stopped when only half her head was visible. Her eyes were, like mine, glistening with tears, "Will you be okay, Mommy?'

I nodded and turned to hide my own tears. Everly was causing me more pain than Dave.

I turned back to get one last glimpse or my daughter. "I love you," She whispered and silently shut the door.

I turned away and a sob escaped from me. Tears freely flowed down my face now. Dave came in as my tears intensified.

"You deserve this, Lana. You deserve it and you know it." I did deserve it. I wanted desperately for it not to happen. But deep down I know I deserved my fate.

Dave grabbed my arm and 'helped' me to the couch. He undid the rope around my ankle and lifted me back up.

"Walk," He commanded giving me a shove. I did so, tears trickling down my face.

"It's time." He said. I looked to the window. Although it was wet outside. The sun still shone brightly in the now blue sky.

I turned to the clock on the coffee table to the right of me, three fourty. What a difference a few hours can make.

Dave led me to the roof. I was shaking by the time we got up there.

We stayed in the small doorway for a few moments. I looked fearfully into the sunny sk. I could already fell its burn.

'Ah, sunlight. Nothing like it. Do you miss the feel of it, Lana?" Even knowing what was coming next, I answered, in a chocked up voice, "Yes, I do."

"I bet Cat missed it too," He said in a darker voice, "I thought you were her friend, I really did, Lana. But apparently food was more important," he said making me guiltier with every word, " You disgust me. I hope you burnin hell." With those as his parting words, Dave shoved me forward, Directly into the brigt sunlight.

I screamed as I burst into flames on contact.


	11. Subdued Chapter 11

_Chapter 11_

Jase

As I got closer to Lana and Everly, the sun got stronger and eventually was able to force its way out of the clouds.

I pulled my hood closer and shoved my hands in my pockets, no bare skin. I also tried to stay close to trees for a little extra protection.

My plan of getting to lana and Everly then leaving in the shelter of the clouds was cancelled when the sun came out. We would have to leave tonight, as originally discussed.

As agonizing scream suddenly cut throught the quiet of the woods I was currently in. I recognized it immeadiatly. Lana.

I charged forward in a burst of speed. I needed to find her. I looked around in distress. Which way?

In a panic, I climbed up a tree, until I was way above the ground to get a better look. I scanned the skyline until I was our building. On the roof was Lana, being thrust out into open daylight.

Lana

Dave got his wish, I was defiantly burning in hell.

I burst into flames almost instantly when the sun touched my skin. I screamed and cried as the eruption of pain raced through my body.

"Jase!" I screamed desperately wishing he was here to save me. I feel to my knees. The sun continued to blaze down on me with horrendous power. The screams continued to rip from my throat.

As I burned I had the small relief of thinking of Everly for the last time. I thought it's be a fortune and a sacred memory to think of my baby, but the thought of never seeing her again overwhelmed me. It only added gas to the flames that covered my body.

I was still burning. Would it ever end? I wished for death. I wished for Jase and Everly as well.

"NOOO!" Another scream sounded. I used my list bit of strength to turn my head to the trees where the sound originated. A figure stood in one of the trees. Covered up, but I still recognized him. Jase. Another cry exploded from me.

I saw he was preparing to jump put. Ignoring the fact that Dave might be able to see Jase too, I screamed out, "No, Jase!" I began to fell tired, death came to me mercifully, "Everly." I managed to get out, hopefully Jase heard.

Then, greatfully, everything went dark.

Jase

"No!" I screamed as I watched helplessly as Lana burned on the rooftop.

She managed to turn her blackened head in my direction. She was a sickening sight. She remained burning as sunlight wreaked its wrath down on Lana. Her skin was black and flaking likw charred logs. Her lips were gone, so all I could see were her white teeth. Her hair, once luscious and beautiful, was no only smoldering patched on her cranium.

She shook her head weakly as I started to step out of the tree's protection, "No, Jase!" She screamed to me. Her lips moved once more, I could just make out the word. Everly. The daughter she'd never see again.

I watched in blind horror as Lana's small movements stopped all together. Tears streamed down my face. Lana was dead.

The knowledge alone was agonizing. This can't be happening. When in the hell would Lana even consider stepping into broad daylight? It's not happening. All these denials were useless. After all, I was staring at Lana's body as I thought them up.

The questions were answered when, after she was surely dead, a man stepped out from under the balcony of the rooftop door. He walked over to Lana's still burning body and kicked her. I felt a surge of anger fly through me. Her body turned, stomach up when he kicked her. I could see her body more clearly now. Her close had burned and lay flaking in the wind. Her eyes had melted in their sockets, they were now a gooey mess.

I turned away for a moment, this was more than I could bear. I forced myself to watch the mysterious man though. He was walked around Lana's body and examining her. Had he been the one to push Lana into the sun's path? He shook his head then, to my terror, laughed. His laugh was deep and happy. He also sounded relieved. Fury bubbled up in my like acid. How can he be standing there laughing, when the love of my life lay dead in front of him.

In my rage, I jumped out of the tree. I fell to the ground. I smacked it hard, but landed perfectly. I didn't stop to regain my posture. I just ran, straight toward the rooftop.

That son-of-a-bitch was going to pay for what he's done.

My head and most of my body was pretty well covered with ym jeans, sneakers, and sweatshirt. My hands, however, sizzled when the sunlight caught them. I grinded my teeth and tried to ignore the burning. But it only added more anger towards the man.

When I got to our building I wasted no time. I jumped up and climbed up the side of the wall. I used the windows and cracks in the bricks as hand holds. I made my way up quickly.

When I got to the top, I saw the man instantly. He was right in front of me, still chuckling over Lana's body.

I screamed and bolted forward. He looked up when I yelled and gave me a quizzical look. I ignored it and pounced on him. My mouth open and my teeth glistened. The man quickly realized I was a vampire. He drew a knife out and swatted it at me. I dodged it and continued to try and rip his head off.

I felt my mouth open wider than I ever before. I must have been a sight. Snarling and biting with my mouth opening wider then possible. My eyes were surly red with hunger.

The man was experienced. Her dodged many of my moved, narrowly, but got awar scratch free at first. I backed up and hissed at him.

"How are you?" I snarled angrily.

The man twirled the knife in his hand and laughed, "Dave," He pointed his knife at Lana, "This your girl," I said nothing and continued to glare and seethe at him. He chuckled, "Must be. Can't say I'm sorry. You're probably better off without the btch anyway."

That did it. I howled demonically and charged forward again. This time I landed on him. He fell to the ground and tried to fight me off. I tried to get round his hands and get to his neck. I snapped my mouth at him and hissed threateningly at him. I was an animal.

He managed to stab me in the chest and sides a few times with his knife, but the injury had no effect. I bled but it didn't stop me from attacking the bastard.

With fear in his eyes the man struggled to get me off of him. I remained on top, still trying to get at his throat. Finally one of his arms fell away and I leaned back to get the best possible force and made a dive for him. As I did so, the man leaned his arm back, his had was clutching the kinfe, and he drove it forward.

It stabbed deeply into my neck. I choked and coughed. I tried to pull it out of my neck but it was very deep. Blood dripped from my mouth and I spit and sputtered it out.

The man stood up and towered over me. "Goodbye." He said. I looked up at him, still gasping and spitting as more blood filled my throat. He got a firm hold of the knife and jerked it forcefully to the left, cleanly slicing my neck.

In the moment before I died, I thought off Everly. She was alone now with no one to take care of her. I prayed for her to be safe and live a goof life.

Then my head rolled of my neck and I died.

Dave

I quickly decapitated the boy was he was chocking his own blood and spit. I grabbed my knife and pulled it hard to the side. His eyes widened as his head lolled and fell of his neck.

I wiped sweat from my brow. Lana had been an easy kill and I disposed off her effectively. I hadn't expected a boyfriend to come to avenge her.

I suppose in some ways we were alike. I was avenging my daughter's death my murdering Lana, and her boyfriend attempted to do the same by trying killing me.

"Sorry, you lose." I say and started to walk away from his body. I heard a strange sound behind me. It sounded almost like plastic, but thicker. It was a unsetteling sound.

I turned back to the boy, I stared in horror as the veins and ateries in his neck began to move and crawl back to his head. They were red and black thick strips of bloody tissue. It was disgusting. They almost looked like hands as they crawled (that's the only way to describe it, crawled) back towards the boys body.

When they were close enough, tendons and veins in this body began to reach out and tie together with those in the neck. They formed a tight seal and soon his head was securely on his head again.

I thought for a moment, he was a vampire, I was a human. Did I have a chance of defeating him again? His eyed began to blink rapidly as his brain began to function again.

I decided not to take the risk. Cat could filly rest in peace now that Lana was dead. This boy would just have to suffer through the same pain I felt.

I didn't pity him. He too was a monster, one who would never change. He would always kill humans to feed on and destroy countless families in the process without ever caring.

I put my knife back into its container and stuffed it in my coat pocket. I took one last glance at Lana's charred body before running back down the stairs ad out the building. I would ran home, far away from this town and Lana and her furious mate. And I could die in peace now knowing that at least she would never hurt anyone else's daughter again.

Jase

With a sudden rush and a gasp, of unneeded air I sat up quickly and panted. I was alive. But, how? My had cut my head off.

I rubbed my neck, I couldn't even feel a scar where the knife had been.

I finally figured what the miracle actually was. Nothing, but burning kills us. For the man to have completely killed me, he would've had to burn my body and head, he hadn't to it somehow reattached itself.

I was under the balcony where we had fought, so I was protected from the sun right now. I could still see Lana's body, only a few feet away. She had finally stopped burning and laid on the room, almost in ashes.

More tears sprang to my eyes. I held them back and stood up. I have a choice. I can take Everly away and save her. Or I can be selfish and end it all.

I wouldn't be much of a father to Everly, I knew that. As much as I loved her, I didn't believe I'd be able to get over Lana's death and Everly's upbringing would be the example of that.

Purposefully I took of my sweatshirt, t-shirt, sneakers and socks. I looked up into the sun and then very slowly began to walk out onto the open roof. I felt the first burn only milliseconds after making my first move. Once I was completely exposed to the sunlight, the my skin began to sizzle sickeningly. Then, I literally exploded into flames. My scream was easily audible.

I was at the edge of the building, on fire, screaming into the sky. My trembled and fell to my knees. My back was arched back, therefore my chest puffed out, it was the biggest target and burned quickly. I managed too look down through my liquidating eyeballs to see my chest was now black.

"Daddy!"

I spun around as fast as I could to see Everly, still under the balcony, crying as she watched me.

I couldn't look at her. I turned around and arched my head to the sky. The sun seared my face.

"NOOO!" The cry burst from my throat and reverberated through the sky. The tears on my face too were catching fire and left ashes behind. I could feel myself weakening as the flames worked there way up and down my body.

"Lana!" I screamed for her, wishing I could undo what had happened and go back to being with her and Everly before I left.

"Daddy!" Everly screamed again. I could hear her sobbing and yelling for me. "Mommy! Daddy!" She screamed. Her cry killed me. My daughter was seeing her dead mother, she was also watching her father die.

One last sob broke from me before I fell down. My head smacked against the concrete of the roof. The headache dully registered. But it was too late for more pain. I could fell life slipping away.

There would be no coming back to life this time .I'd cheated death twice, now it was the real deal.

Goodbye Everly, I love you.

Death came in flames scouring my face and burning me whole now. It would all end soon.

No more pain. No more suffering. No more death.

Nothing.


	12. Epilogue

_**Epilogue.**_

I made sure no sound was coming from the room before I quietly tip-toed out of my room. Mommy wasn't there, neither was the bad man she had mentioned.

"Mommy?" I whispered. I couldn't hear anything.

Did the bad man take her? Was she okay?

I decided I had to go looking for her. I just had to help her and make sure she was okay. I opened the door to the staircase that led up to the roof and down to the lobby. The staircase was inside so the sun couldn't get me like daddy had warned about.

I heard a metal door smack close and running foot steps. I hid in our doorway as I man in dark cloths rushed down the stairs. Was that the bad man? I watched him leave, he continued down the steps until he got to the lobby.

Suddenly a scream came from upstairs. The man had comr from up there. Did he hurt someone? Was mommy up there?

I made my way upstairs slowly, I wanted to make sure there weren't any other badpeople. I stopped when I got to the platform right by the front of the door to the roof. The door was cracked open and I could see sunlight leaking in.

I took a deep breath to calm my self before gently opening the heavy door. The sun was angled to the right so I scooted out to the left to stay in the shade. More screams sounded.

When I was completely outside I stayed in a shady spot so I wouldn't get burned. I jumped as another scream came, louder this time.

There was someone on the roof, not to far from me. He was on fire! He was a vampire and he was burning!

The vampire turned slightly and I caught sight of his face. It was blackened and on fire but I still recognized him.

"DADDY!" I screamed as I realized it was him on fire.

He turned when I called his name. His whole body was black and burning from the sun. His eyes were dripping with tears and hi own eye fluid. I wanted to look away but I only stared at him, crying. Had the bad man done this to him?

More tears filled Daddy's eye and he turned away. He looked up to the sun and screamed. I wanted to rush out and pull him into the shade, but I knew if I did that, I would be on fire too.

"Daddy!" I yelled again, weeping now. Why wouldn't he come in? He needed to run away and get into the shade. It was then that I saw the other figure laying burned next to were Daddy was. This person was a girl. She too had been on fire.

"Mommy!" I screamed. NO! Mommy was dead! No, it can't be true! I cried harder and watched Daddy as he fell to the floor.

"No!" More tears fell as I sobbed over my parents. "No!"

I wanted to look away. I wanted to pretend this wasn't happening. "Mommy! Daddy!" I screamed over and over. They can't be dead. They have to wake up and stay here with me. I need them.

I fell to my knees, similar to the way Daddy had fallen and screamed and cried over them. I needed them. Why would anyone hurt them?

I stayed, sobbing on the roof for hours. Still wishing they were with me.

When it was nighttime I crawled out of the shade and made my way to Daddy. He was all burned as ashy, but I couldn't leave him without a goodbye. I went over to him. More tears dripped down my cheeks. I hugged his arm and cried.

It wasn't fair! What would I do now? Who can help me? I need them!

I lifted my head up and saw Mommy, just a little ways from Daddy. I let go of his black hand and crawled over to Mommy. She too was burned, her face was no longer beautiful and flawless. It was burned and ugly from the fire. I kissed her forehead. "Mommy," I muttered and hugged her one last time.

A new feeling rushed through me as I cried over my dead parents. Rage. I opened my mouth and screamed at the sky. At the world.

I cried even when I felt all cried out. The tears seemed to be never ending.

Mommy and Daddy are dead and I was alone.

"NO!" The scream ripped from my throat. I put all of my anger and sadness nito that one word.

Not fair.

Not fair.

Not fair.

"Mommy." Who would take care of me? How can I live with out my mother to teach me? I needed her to help me. She was my mommy.

Not fair.

Not fair.

Not fair.

"Daddy." How is going to help me learn to hunt? Who is going to help me learn to be a good vampire? How can I live without my father to protect me?

I heard a thump behind me. I turned to see what it was. The tears slightly blurred my vision but I could see the figure. He was clearly a vampire too. He took slow steps towards me.

"Go away." I moaned. I was still holding Mommy's hand and laying next to her.

"I want to help," The vampire said. I looked up at him. My eyes were red and tears streaked.

"Why? How are you?' My voice sounded weird because of my crying.

"I knew that vampire over there. I was actually coming to see him to tell him something. Um, I didn't know, um, I'm sorry about what happened." He stopped when I lowered my head to hide yet another wave of tears. When he said 'that vampire' he pointed to Daddy.

"What _did_ happen?" He asked quietly. He was bending down so he could see my face. I looked up at his. He was pale and thin, but also muscular form the looks of it. He had black eyes, like most vampires, at a calm. He had black hair that went to just before his shoulders. His nose was pierced with a little stud.

I shook my head, "I don't know."

The vampire boy stayed next to me as I cried again, 'I don't mean to sound rude, but who are you?" He finally asked.

I looked up at him again, he had nice eyes. His face seemed genuine.

"My name is Everly and those are my parents." I said.

His eyes widened, "Oh." Was all he could say. He stood back up and offered his hand, "Well Everly, like I said I want to help you. Would you like to come with me. I know a safe place to go." He said gently.

I looked down at Mommy and Daddy. Then I slowly let go of Mommy's hand and nodded.

The boy smiled and I took his hand.

"It's going to be okay." He said as we walked.

Okay? My parents are dead. I don't know how 'okay' I can be. But I wanted to believe him, I wanted this nice boy to take me to a safe place. I wanted everything to be okay.

Would it? I don't know. But I want it to, I want it so badly. I want him to help me.

"By the way, my name's Jared." He said offering me a small smile. I nodded.

Maybe everything will be okay, I thought. Maybe Jared will help me. And maybe I'll be safe.

I turned to look at Mommy and daddy for the last time, two said dusty figures in the distance. I wiped at one of my tears. Can I get over this? Again, I don't know but I'll try. Can it really all be okay?

Jared walked on holding my hand. I cringing to him in the darkness but he still continued to stay in his good mood. He even made me smile. We walked until dawn came and changed our course.

Yes, I think it can.

_The End._


End file.
